Swiss cheese

American

noun

a firm, pale-yellow cheese made originally in Switzerland, typically made from cow's milk and having many holes.

Swiss cheese British

noun

a hard white or pale yellow cheese with holes, such as Gruyère or Emmenthal

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Swiss cheese

First recorded in 1815–25

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.

Starting in 2023, they tore out its center and moved steel girders until they resembled Swiss cheese.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 10, 2026

I see faces in everything — a slice of Swiss cheese, the front of a sedan, even an electrical outlet.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 22, 2025

The Swiss cheese stretched like taffy when you pulled a slider apart.

From Salon • Sep. 30, 2025

"Things can and do go wrong, whether that is from renewables, fossil fuels or nuclear power. This could be the Swiss cheese model, where the holes in the system have happened to align."

From BBC • Apr. 29, 2025

Calvin says, “Go, Mason! Swiss cheese that thing!”

From "The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle" by Leslie Connor

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023