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
Etymology
Origin of sorbet
First recorded in 1575–85; from French, from Italian sorbetto, from Turkish şerbet “cool drink”; sherbet
Compare meaning
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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
Pie Chart: Dessert Words
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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.
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
I’ve heard they do a nice mango sorbet here.
From Salon • Apr. 4, 2025
Mr Pirathapan cooked a winning menu of a seafood starter, a spiced venison main and a dessert of white chocolate and cardamom and saffron cremeux with a lime and chili sorbet.
From BBC • May 23, 2024
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
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.
