starch
Americannoun
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a white, tasteless, solid carbohydrate, (C 6 H 1 0 O5 ) n , occurring in the form of minute granules in the seeds, tubers, and other parts of plants, and forming an important constituent of rice, corn, wheat, beans, potatoes, and many other vegetable foods.
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a commercial preparation of this substance used to stiffen textile fabrics in laundering.
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starches, foods rich in natural starch.
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stiffness or formality, as of manner.
He is so full of starch he can't relax.
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Informal. physical or mental energy; vigor.
verb (used with object)
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to stiffen or treat with starch.
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to make stiff or rigidly formal (sometimes followed byup ).
noun
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a polysaccharide composed of glucose units that occurs widely in plant tissues in the form of storage granules, consisting of amylose and amylopectin
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Also called: amylum. a starch obtained from potatoes and some grain: it is fine white powder that forms a translucent viscous solution on boiling with water and is used to stiffen fabric and in many industrial processes
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any food containing a large amount of starch, such as rice and potatoes
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stiff or pompous formality of manner or conduct
verb
adjective
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A carbohydrate that is the chief form of stored energy in plants, especially wheat, corn, rice, and potatoes. Starch is a mixture of two different polysaccharides built out of glucose units, and forms a white, tasteless powder when purified. It is an important source of nutrition and is also used to make adhesives, paper, and textiles.
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Any of various substances, including natural starch, used to stiffen fabrics.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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starchernoun
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overstarchverb (used with object)
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overstarchedadjective
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starchlessadjective
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starchlikeadjective
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unstarchedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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starchsimple
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starchessimple
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have starchedperfect
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has starchedperfect
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am starchingprogressive
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are starchingprogressive
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is starchingprogressive
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have been starchingperfect progressive
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has been starchingperfect progressive
Past
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starchedsimple
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had starchedperfect
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was starchingprogressive
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were starchingprogressive
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had been starchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of starch
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English (verb) sterchen originally, “to stiffen,” Old English stercean “to make stiff, strengthen,” derivative of stearc “stiff, firm”; cognate with German stärken “to strengthen”; see origin at stark
Explanation
Starch is the stuff that makes your shirt collar look crisp and fresh. It's also the complex carbohydrate that potatoes and rice — foods that are called starches — have lots of. Starch can also be a verb. You can starch your shirt by adding starch, which is a white powder, to the rinse water. You can also get the kind of starch that comes as a spray, which you squirt on your shirt while you're ironing it. Cornstarch, which is also a white powder, is used to thicken sauces or make egg whites stand in stiff peaks when you beat them.
Vocabulary lists containing starch
Words to Know Before You Defrost the Bird
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The Skin I'm In
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The Red Umbrella
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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:
The adjacent "mipyme" -- Cuba's acronym for small business which is used as shorthand for any private enterprise -- is a picture of plenty, offering everything from rice, Cuba's staple starch, to rum and ketchup.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
Fermentation is a biological process whereby organisms convert carbohydrates like starch or sugar into substances like alcohol, without using oxygen.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
In “The Caribbean Cookbook,” the starch is either rice or “ground provisions,” the Anglophone term for yams, sweet potatoes, plantains, breadfruit and other staples.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
The tools were tested for tiny starch granules left behind when plants were processed for food.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 25, 2026
I wonder how it would feel to spend your whole life trying to remember other people’s preferences on toast butter and starch amounts and sheet changing.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
Simmer until the liquid reduces and the starches thicken into something spoonable and lush.
From Salon ● Feb. 24, 2026
In boiling water, the vegetable’s starches begin to convert to sugars, bringing out a natural sweetness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2025
For now, instead of lab-grown ingredients, Jakub is using starches and proteins from naturally occurring fungi to develop his recipes.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2025
The predominant biofuel option on the market today is generated from corn, in part because, the researchers said, their starches break down easily.
From Science Daily ● May 7, 2024
I was supposed to be on this diet where you eat a lot of starches and crap, to gain weight and all, but I didn't ever do it.
From "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger
Cipriano, 35, a man of starched white shirts, neatly-parted hair and wire-rimmed glasses, resembles a Brooks Brothers mannequin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026
For years, the egg has ruled the breakfast table like a sun god—worshipped, aestheticized, endlessly fiddled with by men in starched aprons and women with ring lights.
From Salon ● Nov. 13, 2025
As he eases along the campaign trail, Schiff is the unflappable man, sober and buttoned-down as the starched white shirt he wears beneath a standard-issue uniform of navy-blue suit and muted tie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 22, 2024
The software used by the engineers at the truss manufacturing plant allowed the designer to make the trusses stiffer than an old-fashioned starched shirt collar.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 25, 2023
A kindly nurse in a starched white uniform brings coffee, which sits on the table next to me until it grows cold.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
Every day, he’d get up at 6 a.m., pop his oldies tape in his cassette player, pull down the ironing board built into the wall of his 1920s childhood home and start starching.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2023
There he would be, relaxing in front of Match of the Day, while methodically folding his charcoal cashmere jumpers and starching his blue shirts.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 5, 2019
An exhausted woman in an Arizona State sweatshirt inspects my shirt for proper starching before handing me a questionnaire in which I am asked to detail my gastrointestinal health:
From Salon ● Feb. 25, 2017
Or it could mean a Kangol hat, some Cazal shades, ultra-baggy pants or Adidas with fat laces that required stretching, starching and pressing to perfect the look.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 24, 2015
It was tiresome wearing the same dress every day that I worked, starching up the collar and dab-washing the armpits every night so it would be dry by the next morning.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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.
