tangy
Americanadjective
-
tangier,
comparative
-
tangiest
superlative
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of tangy
Explanation
Tangy foods, like vinegar and lemon juice, have a sharp, acidic flavor. Your salad will taste better if you pour plenty of tangy salad dressing on it. If you like tangy flavors, you'll probably enjoy lemonade that's not too sweet, as well as foods like blue cheese, lime-flavored Thai dishes, and plain yogurt. The adjective tangy comes from tang, "strong flavor or smell." The earliest definition of tang was "a serpent's stinging tongue," from a root meaning "to bite."
Vocabulary lists containing tangy
Tasteful Terms: Flavorful Words
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The Night Diary
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Words for Cheese Writers
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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:
I washed the meal down with a cocktail made from pulque—the Aztec’s milky, sacred brew made from fermented agave sap—mixed with xoconostle, a tangy local cactus fruit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
It’s sweet, tangy, and pickley—the perfect complement to backyard cookouts.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
Soon, this liquid ferments into a tangy beverage with a touch of viscosity, somewhat like Mexico’s pulque.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
The McRib, also offered on a limited-time basis, is described as “seasoned boneless pork dipped in a tangy BBQ sauce, topped with slivered onions and tangy pickles.”
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 29, 2026
It tasted both sweet and tangy, and the texture was silky.
From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
A combination of cream, sour cream and mayonnaise temper the sharp bite of horseradish in this tangier take on the classic cream sauce.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 25, 2022
March is when I start to cook brighter, tangier dishes, even if the winter ingredients I’m using haven’t changed at all.
From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2022
It tends to be much tangier and more sour than jam, and thanks to the copious amounts of natural pectin in citrus rinds, it has a pleasantly gelatinous texture.
From Salon ● Sep. 16, 2021
The toasted bread salad fattoush is tangier, crisper at Marouch.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2017
She’s famed for her shimmering upper voice and spun-sugar high notes, but Schwanewilms’s tangier, more forthright middle and lower registers proved just as distinctive, as did her word-specific treatment of song texts.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 21, 2017
Are they excessively frosted with the tangiest, richest cream cheese icing of all time?
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2021
Blanchett’s amusingly mannered turn is the tangiest thing here, though it’s hard to defend the surprise Golden Globe nomination she won for this.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 18, 2020
Mr. Shelton himself wrote the book, which naturally repurposes much of the tangiest dialogue and the plot from the movie.
From New York Times ● Sep. 16, 2014
Unaccountably, Flynn — who adapted her own book for the screen — has left some of her tangiest provocations either entirely unplumbed or superficially pinged.
From Washington Post
His tangiest item was a seldom-played piano concerto, the only one written by England's late, blind Frederick Delius, who once lived in Florida.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
