salsa

American  

[sahl-suh, sahl-sah] / ˈsɑl sə, ˈsɑl sɑ /

noun

• salsas
  plural

1. Mexican Cooking. a hot sauce of tomatoes and chile peppers with onion and garlic, and sometimes seasoned with cumin or fresh cilantro, often used as a condiment or served as a dip.

2. a lively, vigorous type of contemporary Latin American popular music, blending predominantly Cuban rhythms with elements of jazz, rock, and soul music.

3. a ballroom dance of Puerto Rican origin, performed to this music, similar to the mambo, but faster with the accent on the first beat instead of the second beat of each measure.

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verb (used without object)

1. to dance the salsa.

salsa British  

/ ˈsælsə /

noun

1. a type of Latin American big-band dance music

2. a dance performed to this kind of music

3. Mexican cookery a spicy tomato-based sauce

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• salsas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of salsa

First recorded in 1845–50, and in 1970–75 salsa for defs. 2, 3; from Latin American Spanish, Spanish: literally, “sauce”; the dance and music were probably so called originally because of the mixture of styles

Explanation

The spicy, tomato-based sauce that's served with your burrito is salsa. Salsa is also great for dipping tortilla chips in. Officially, the familiar Mexican type of salsa is called salsa picante, or "spicy sauce" in Spanish. In fact, salsa — which is rooted in the Latin salsa, "salty food" or "condiment" — means "sauce" in both Spanish and Italian. There is also a genre of music called salsa, which gets its name from the implied "spiciness" of the sauce, as well as the blending of Cuban and Puerto Rican styles of dance music.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

salsa salsas

The invigorating brass or woody bass of salsa, son and cha-cha-cha are all but gone.

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

And this week brought another recall: The company pulled prepared foods, including salsa and guacamole sold under brands such as Trader Joe’s and Walmart’s Freshness Guaranteed, after receiving jalapeños connected to a multistate Salmonella outbreak.

From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026

The recall includes products such as pico de gallo salsa, several types of guacamole, burritos, spicy sandwiches and fresh sliced jalapenos.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

In response, I noted, “You could put everything in the museum that mentions the founding into the rooms that feature the low-rider exhibit and the salsa music exhibit, and you’d have space left over.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

The salsa music was new and always evolving into something else, but it always returned to its afro-ji'baTO-antillano roots.

From "Bodega Dreams" by Ernesto Quinonez

Taylor Farms said it was removing certain products including guacamoles and salsas from grocery shelves over concerns of salmonella contamination, weeks after the produce supplier recalled lettuce implicated in a widespread cyclospora outbreak.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

The produce supplier said it was removing certain products including guacamoles and salsas from shelves.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

Tomato-based pizza sauces and salsas are among the products likely to be most hit.

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2025

You’ll make two different salsas and tortillas and even fish for your trout on their on-site fish farm.

From Salon ● Feb. 22, 2025

It’s merengues and salsas with horns and bongos and singers crooning about la estrellita de Belén.

From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina

Related Words

• dressing
• gravy
• horseradish
• ketchup
• mustard
• pepper
• relish
• salt
• sauce
• seasoning
• spice