tapas

American  

[tuhp-uhs] / ˈtʌp əs /

noun

Yoga.

1. the conditioning of the body through the proper kinds and amounts of diet, rest, bodily training, meditation, etc., to bring it to the greatest possible state of creative power.

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tapas British  

/ ˈtæpəs /

plural noun

1. 1. light snacks or appetizers, usually eaten with drinks

   2. ( as modifier )

      a tapas bar

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Etymology

Origin of tapas

First recorded in 1930–35; from Sanskrit: “penance,” literally, “heat”; akin to Latin tepēre “to be lukewarm” ( tepid ( def. ) )

Example Sentences

Three-year-old Madeleine vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Portugal's Praia da Luz in May 2007 while her parents dined at a nearby tapas bar.

From Barron's • Oct. 23, 2025

One of three co-owners, Tatenda Mhende described the menu as “similar to Spanish tapas but with French food.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 2, 2025

I am a master of sitting in a hotel room and finishing some not-even-that-time-sensitive work when I should be out at a tapas bar on a nominal vacation.

From Slate • Jul. 20, 2025

And like the rest of modern Hong Kong, that menu met the decades with growing diversity, culminating in choices from fast food burgers and tapas to black truffle potstickers and wagyu beef sliders.

From Salon • Jul. 12, 2025

Since he had the credit card his mother gave him “for groceries only,” he zipped through the aisles of the cramped market and grabbed everything he knew he needed to create Spanish tapas!

From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein