spaghetti
Americannoun
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spaghetti,
plural
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spaghetto
singular
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a white, starchy pasta of Italian origin that is made in the form of long strings, boiled, and served with any of a variety of meat, tomato, or other sauces.
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Electricity. an insulating tubing of small diameter into which bare wire can be slipped.
noun
Usage
See zucchini.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of spaghetti
1885–90; < Italian, plural of spaghetto, diminutive of spago thin rope < Late Latin spacus twine, probably < Greek sphákos long-threaded lichen
Compare meaning
How does spaghetti compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Spaghetti is long, thin pasta. Spaghetti with meatballs in marinara sauce is an Italian restaurant classic. Spaghetti is a popular Italian pasta, often served with a tomato sauce sometimes called spaghetti sauce. The Italian word spago means string, and spaghetti is the plural of spago — a description of what spaghetti looks like. Spaghetti straps are very thin shoulder straps found on dresses and summery tops. In the late 1960s, "spaghetti westerns" were movies about the Wild West, filmed in Italy and directed by Italians.
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.
Maybe all of that messy human friction had a point beyond just, say, getting a spaghetti sauce recipe.
From Slate ● Oct. 2, 2026
She passed the spaghetti recipe to my mother early in my parents’ marriage, and Mom changed almost nothing.
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026
When the Filipino company, famous for fried chicken, burgers and spaghetti, first announced the spinoff plan in January, it had said it was considering listing the international business on a U.S. securities exchange.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
He used to make spaghetti Bolognese with cumin and coriander in it, so Western and Italian cuisine with Indian influences is comforting to me.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
My sister always cut her spaghetti up instead of twirling it, which I felt defeated the point and purpose of spaghetti.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
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.
