spaghetti
Americannoun
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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.
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.
This loaf is less spaghetti night, more steak dinner in disguise.
From Salon • Mar. 11, 2026
All that pizza and spaghetti bolognese add up, as do the extras like drinks, side orders and desserts.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 24, 2026
“ETF issuers are firing the spaghetti cannon at the wall in the hopes that a couple of noodles stick,” Morningstar analysts wrote in a December report.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 23, 2026
She even surprised him with a bowl of spaghetti with meatballs topped with cheddar cheese during a recent fine-dining outing.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 19, 2026
There are shelves of alphabet spaghetti, Pedigree Chum, and Ambrosia Rice Pudding.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
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.
