tart

¹ American  

[tahrt] / tɑrt /

adjective

• tarter,
  comparative
• tartest
  superlative

1. sharp to the taste; sour or acid.

   Tart apples are best for pie.

   Synonyms:

   piquant, acrid, astringent

   Antonyms:

   mellow, bland, sugary, sweet

2. sharp in character, spirit, or expression; cutting; biting.

   a tart remark.

   Synonyms:

   acrimonious, acerbic, caustic, barbed, sarcastic

   Antonyms:

   benign, gracious, gentle, kind, sweet

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tart ² American  

[tahrt] / tɑrt /

noun

• tarts
  plural

1. a small pie filled with cooked fruit or other sweetened preparation, usually having no top crust.

2. a covered pie containing fruit or the like.

3. Slang. a prostitute or sexually promiscuous woman.

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verb phrase

1. tart up to adorn, dress, or decorate, especially in a flamboyant manner.

   The old restaurant was tarted up to look like a Viennese café.

tart ¹ British  

/ tɑːt /

adjective

1. (of a flavour, food, etc) sour, acid, or astringent

2. cutting, sharp, or caustic

   a tart remark

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tart ² British  

/ tɑːt /

noun

1. a pastry case often having no top crust, with a sweet or savoury filling

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tart ³ British  

/ tɑːt /

noun

1. informal a promiscuous woman, esp a prostitute: often a term of abuse See also tart up

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• tartness
  noun
• tartish
  adjective
• tarty
  adjective
• tartishly
  adverb
• tartly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tarts
  plural

Adjectives

• tarter
  comparative
• tartest
  superlative

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Etymology

Origin of tart¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English teart “sharp, rough”; akin to Dutch tarten “to defy,” Middle High German traz “defiance”

Origin of tart²

First recorded in 1350–1400; 1905–10 tart ² for def. 3; Middle English tarte, from Middle French; compare Medieval Latin tarta

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Explanation

A tart is small pie filled with fruit or custard, with no top crust, like the cherry tarts you bought at the bakery. As an adjective, tart describes a sour taste, like lemon, or harsh words, like your friend's tart reply to a question that makes her mad. In the 19th century, tart was British slang for "pretty woman." Some believe it is a shortening of "sweetheart." But by the end of that century, tart described a prostitute, something many language scholars trace back to the tart that you get at the bakery.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tart tarts tarter tartest

These acids give kombucha its familiar tart flavor.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026

It’s got a little bit of a tart taste.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026

It’s got a big-boy suspension—with front coilover struts and multi-link rear suspension—tastefully tart steering response and above-par roadholding, thanks to a center of gravity like a sea buoy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 16, 2026

For the moms who love a tart yet refreshing dessert, treat them to homemade lime ice cream.

From Salon ● May 10, 2026

"We make a goat cheese and apple tart at the bakery," he says.

From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

Delicious food — Jamaican patties, raspberry tarts, Nigerian-style goat, salmon tamales — scented the streets.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

So it makes pain au chocolat and delicate tarts, but also strawberry mochi donuts or red bean bread.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

Within moments of the series’ opening, she’s sliding a pie in the oven and futzing over tiny tarts and meringue kisses to photograph for her Hungry with Hollis followers.

From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026

Six new Pasadena bakeries to visit for cinnamon rolls, cookies, croissants, Labubu tarts, bagels, gluten-free desserts and vegan pastries.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026

Olive ate even more: Gooseberry tarts and currant bread and cream trifle and plum pudding and chocolate bonbons and spice cake—all dribbled over with butter rum sauce and apricot sauce and peppermint sauce.

From "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine

English and organic red wines, which he says can taste tarter, are among his favourites to drink chilled.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

Yes, the Sweet Potato Roll with Fried Chesapeake Catfish, Preserved Ramp tarter is a longtime favorite and is still available.

From Salon ● Jul. 16, 2024

The sauce will tilt sweeter or tarter depending on the citrus you choose, but that’s half the fun of it because there is a wide berth of goodness there.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 28, 2021

And there’s a rabbit hole of detail to descend into: freckles, skin moles and scars, teeth tarter, nose hair and shaving nicks on the necks and faces of figures.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2020

Put two cupfuls of sifted pastry flour in the sieve, and add one teaspoonful of cream of tarter and half a teaspoonful of soda.

From Miss Parloa's New Cook Book by Maria Parloa

The Granny Smiths were the tartest, but also the softest and most liable to break down.

From New York Times ● Nov. 12, 2021

The most important contributor is black screenwriter Bill Gunn, adapting a 1966 novel by Kristin Hunter, also black, but adding most of the tartest lines and characterisations himself.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 4, 2012

“Man of the Hour,” one of the tartest songs from the new album, came next, and Ms. Jones’s ample indignation trumped the clunky lyrics.

From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2010

Pressed to name some, the President adopted his tartest professorial tones.

From Time Magazine Archive

If praises of the Mainwarings is to begin," answered Mrs. Mortlock in her tartest voice, "what I say is, let me retire.

From The Palace Beautiful A Story for Girls by L. T. Meade

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