sorbet
Americannoun
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a frozen dairy-free dessert made with sweetened fruit juice or purée.
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a tart or slightly sweet frozen fruit or vegetable purée, served either between courses to cleanse the palate or as a dessert.
a refreshing beet sorbet.
noun
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a water ice made from fruit juice, egg whites, milk, etc
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a US word for sherbet
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sorbet
First recorded in 1575–85; from French, from Italian sorbetto, from Turkish şerbet “cool drink”; see origin at sherbet
Compare meaning
How does sorbet compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Sorbet is a mushy mix of ice and juice that's eaten as a dessert. Sorbet is especially delicious in summer. Sorbet is a sweet, frozen treat. Unlike ice cream or gelato, it doesn't contain milk or cream, though a well-made sorbet can have a deliciously creamy texture. Sorbet is a French word, and it's pronounced that way too, with a silent t. It comes from the Italian sorbetto, with its roots in the Turkish serbet, which makes clear the relationship between sorbet and its close relative, sherbet.
Vocabulary lists containing sorbet
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Ready to splurge, I ordered squid-ink gnocchi, Dover sole with artichokes and an ethereal persimmon sorbet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
Dessert revives malt bread as French toast alongside sea buckthorn and pumpkin held through autumn and sharpened into sorbet.
From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2026
The dark purple berry went global in the early 2000s after it was reinvented as a sweet sorbet, often topped with granola and fruit, and marketed for its antioxidant-rich properties.
From Barron's ● Jan. 28, 2026
After the hummus and seven vegetable salads, the meal unfolded with sweet-and-salty pistachio-dusted halloumi baklava, tender beef shashlik over creamy black-garlic toum, and a guava sorbet sundae.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
They stopped for sorbet, served in stemmed glasses, and she told him about Feral’s storms, and how they would eat the snow with spoonfuls of jam.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
The coolers are filled with 40 different craft beers, ciders and natural wines, along with sorbets and ice cream churned in-house.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 3, 2023
Dairy still dominates, but plant-based ice cream and sorbets are another growing segment.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2022
Lemons show up in our roast chickens to sustain us through winter, and they brighten up our summer in sorbets.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2022
Chelsea develops the initial concepts for flavors by building off Studio 52’s most popular drinks; the gelatos and sorbets are ultimately produced with chef Gianluigi Dellaccio of D.C.-area mini-chain Dolci Gelati.
From Washington Post ● May 12, 2022
Duane was not completely sure what any of that meant, but he did know that if there were to be sorbets, tarts, and aplomb to eat, it would have to wait for three more days.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
