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Synonyms

tandoor

American  
[tahn-door] / tɑnˈdʊər /

noun

Indian Cooking.
  • tandoors,
    plural
  • tandoori
    plural
  1. a cylindrical clay oven, fired to a high heat by wood or charcoal, in which foods, especially meats, are cooked and bread is baked.


Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of tandoor

1655–65; < Hindi, Urdu tandūr < Persian tanūr


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 naan is then placed in a very hot tandoor until it puffs up and brown spots appear.

From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2025

He installed just a few tables and a brilliantly hot well of a tandoor oven, which he learned to man in a sweaty process of trial and error.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 22, 2022

Uyghur poetry spelled out in Arabic letters is displayed in restaurants that serve hand-pulled noodles and samsa, lamb-filled buns baked in tandoor ovens.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 2, 2022

Fry bread, responsible for the 12-seat bar, counts time at Elle, Columbia Room and the esteemed Rasika West End, where he met Sundas, the former tandoor chef there.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 24, 2021

We had a restaurant-grade tandoor oven in our own kitchen, which I’d leaned against as I watched my father prepare that night’s meal.

From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson

Size is also an issue at Tamarind Tribeca, an Indian restaurant in New York that makes tandoori turkey, a variation of the chicken dish also prepared in a vertical oven.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 24, 2025

For me, the tandoori chicken was the star of the show and its flavors made me nostalgic for my mom’s home cooking.

From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2024

He also recalled how their relationship was sealed "over a tandoori chicken masala, four poppadoms and three pints of lager" after meeting on TV drama The Gambling Man in 1992.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2024

You can’t miss the charred curds on tandoori chicken, the crisp edges on a lasagna, the ripe flesh of a peach.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 3, 2024

One Saturday, having nothing else to do, she walked all the way to Central Square, to an Indian restaurant, and ordered a plate of tandoori chicken.

From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri

Meanwhile, masalas will continue to get toasted, meats will continue to sizzle on the tandoors, and ghee will continue to glaze rotis in kitchens all over the world.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 9, 2021

Two glowing tandoors fuel the lunch crowd at this unpretentious downtown standby, but the most affordable option isn’t wrapped in warm flatbread.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 26, 2017

Ananta, the Oberoi Dubai’s Indian specialty restaurant, boasts a show kitchen with traditional tandoors and specializes in North Indian signature dishes, as well as a daily selection of Indian coastal specialties.

From Forbes ● Dec. 29, 2014

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