soup kitchen
Americannoun
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soup kitchens
plural
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a place where food, usually soup, is served at little or no charge to people experiencing food insecurity.
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Military Slang. (in World War I) a mobile kitchen.
noun
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a place or mobile stall where food and drink, esp soup, is served to destitute people
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military a mobile kitchen
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of soup kitchen
First recorded in 1850–55
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.
In the Guanabacoa neighborhood, in eastern Havana, workers are busy installing 12 solar panels on the roof of a nursing home run by the Catholic Church that doubles as a soup kitchen.
From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 2026
Apparently not when he’s working a soup kitchen, according to these legal aces.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
You can still volunteer at a local soup kitchen, nursing home, or hospital.
From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2025
She still did good works, running L.A.’s largest soup kitchen during the Depression.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2025
“Mr. Barsamian gives them to the soup kitchen on a Hundred and Fifteenth Street,” she says.
From "Goodbye Stranger" by Rebecca Stead
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