taste

American  

[tayst] / teɪst /

verb (used with object)

• tastes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• tasted,
  past participle,  past
• tasting
  present participle

1. to try or test the flavor or quality of (something) by taking some into the mouth.

   to taste food.

   Synonyms:

   savor

2. to eat or drink a little of.

   She barely tasted her dinner.

3. to eat or drink (often used in negative constructions).

   He hadn't tasted food for three days.

4. to perceive or distinguish the flavor of.

   to taste the wine in a sauce.

5. to have or get experience, especially a slight experience.

   these young men who had only begun to taste life.

6. to perceive in any way.

7. Archaic. to enjoy or appreciate.

8. Obsolete.

   1. to examine by touch; feel.

   2. to test or try.

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verb (used without object)

• tastes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• tasted,
  past participle,  past
• tasting
  present participle

1. to try the flavor or quality of something.

2. to eat or drink a little (usually followed byof ).

   She tasted of the cake.

3. to perceive or distinguish the flavor of anything.

4. to have experience of something, however limited or slight.

5. to have a particular flavor (often followed byof ).

   The coffee tastes bitter. The bread tastes of mold.

6. to smack or savor (usually followed byof ).

   The story tastes of treason.

noun

• tastes
  plural

1. the act of tasting food or drink.

2. the sense by which the flavor or savor of things is perceived when they are brought into contact with the tongue.

3. the sensation or quality as perceived by this sense; flavor.

4. a small quantity tasted; a morsel, bit, or sip.

5. a relish, liking, or partiality for something.

   a taste for music.

   Synonyms:

   predisposition, appreciation, disposition, fondness

   Antonyms:

   antipathy

6. the sense of what is fitting, harmonious, or beautiful; the perception and enjoyment of what constitutes excellence in the fine arts, literature, fashion, etc.

   Synonyms:

   judgment, perception, discernment

7. the sense of what is seemly, polite, tactful, etc., to say or do in a given social situation.

8. one's personal attitude or reaction toward an aesthetic phenomenon or social situation, regarded as either good or bad.

9. the ideas of aesthetic excellence or of aesthetically valid forms prevailing in a culture or personal to an individual.

   a sample of Victorian taste; I consulted only my own taste in decorating this room.

10. the formal idiom preferred by a certain artist or culture; style; manner.

    a façade in the Baroque taste.

11. a slight experience or a sample of something.

    a taste of adventure.

12. a feeling or sensation resulting from an experience.

    a compromise that left a bad taste in her mouth.

13. Obsolete. test or trial.

idioms

1. taste blood. blood.

2. to one's taste, agreeable or pleasing to one.

   He couldn't find any ties that were completely to his taste.

taste British  

/ teɪst /

noun

1. the sense by which the qualities and flavour of a substance are distinguished by the taste buds

2. the sensation experienced by means of the taste buds

3. the act of tasting

4. a small amount eaten, drunk, or tried on the tongue

5. a brief experience of something

   a taste of the whip

6. a preference or liking for something; inclination

   to have a taste for danger

7. the ability to make discerning judgments about aesthetic, artistic, and intellectual matters; discrimination

   to have taste

8. judgment of aesthetic or social matters according to a generally accepted standard

   bad taste

9. discretion; delicacy

   that remark lacks taste

10. obsolete the act of testing

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verb

1. to distinguish the taste of (a substance) by means of the taste buds

2. (usually tr) to take a small amount of (a food, liquid, etc) into the mouth, esp in order to test the quality

   to taste the wine

3. (often foll by of) to have a specific flavour or taste

   the tea tastes of soap

   this apple tastes sour

4. to have an experience of (something)

   to taste success

5. (tr) an archaic word for enjoy

6. obsolete (tr) to test by touching

taste More Idioms  

1. see acquired taste; dose (taste) of one's own medicine; leave a bad taste in one's mouth; no accounting for tastes; poor taste.

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Usage

What is a basic definition of taste? Taste is the human sense that we use to experience the flavors of things we eat and drink. Taste is the flavor of something, and to taste something means to eat or drink a small amount of it. Taste has many other senses as a verb and a noun. Taste is one of the five basic senses, along with sight, hearing, smell, and touch. Our senses are how we perceive stimuli from within or without the body.

• Real-life examples: Humans use their mouth, tongue, and taste buds to experience the flavor or sensations of different foods and drinks. Animals have a sense of taste as well, although most of them have different taste buds than humans so foods will have different flavors to them.
• Used in a sentence: When Isiah was sick he lost his sense of taste and his mother’s soup no longer tasted good to him.

The unique sensation or flavor that a food, drink, or other thing causes is called its taste. Something that has a good taste is said to be tasty.

• Real-life examples: Most fruits have a sweet taste. A lot of people do not like the taste of fish. Chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream all have different tastes.
• Used in a sentence: I know cauliflower is good for me, but I just don’t like the taste of it.

Taste is used to mean to put a small amount of something into your mouth to determine what kind of sensation it causes. This way, we can tell “what it tastes like.”

• Real-life examples: Parents everywhere struggle to get children to even taste their vegetables. You might cautiously taste a piece of unfamiliar food. A chef may taste a small spoonful of their cooking to see if it needs more spices.
• Used in a sentence: The puppy tasted only a small bite of the new dog food before walking away in disgust.

Synonym Usage

Taste, flavor, savor refer to a quality that is perceived when a substance is placed upon the tongue. Taste is the general word: the taste of roast beef. Flavor is a characteristic taste, usually of a pleasing kind, and as of some ingredient put into the food: lemon flavor. Savor, much less common than taste or flavor, implies pleasing scent as well as taste or flavor, and connotes enjoyment in tasting: The sauce has an excellent savor.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pretaste
  noun
• retaste
  verb
• tastable
  adjective
• tasteable
  adjective
• untastable
  adjective
• untasteable
  adjective
• untasted
  adjective
• untasting
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tastes
  plural

Participles

• tasting
  present
• tasted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• taste
  simple
• tastes
  simple
• have tasted
  perfect
• has tasted
  perfect
• am tasting
  progressive
• are tasting
  progressive
• is tasting
  progressive
• have been tasting
  perfect progressive
• has been tasting
  perfect progressive

Past

• tasted
  simple
• had tasted
  perfect
• was tasting
  progressive
• were tasting
  progressive
• had been tasting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will taste
  simple
• will have tasted
  perfect
• will be tasting
  progressive
• will have been tasting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of taste

First recorded in 1250–1300; (verb) Middle English tasten “to touch, taste,” from Old French taster “to touch, explore by touching” ( Middle French: “to touch, taste”); cognate with Italian tastare, Provençal, Old Spanish tastar, of uncertain origin; (noun) Middle English tast “sense of touch, a trying, tasting,” from Old French, derivative of taster

Explanation

Taste is the ability to tell the difference between flavors in your mouth. It's your sense of taste that tells you if what you're eating is salty, sweet, or sour. The verb taste means to perceive with your sense of taste ("I tasted kiwi for the first time") or to have a certain flavor ("the cake tastes of cinnamon and nutmeg"). The noun taste has a few different meanings. It's sensing flavors on your tongue, but it's also having a preference for something or a sense of discernment: "She has such good taste. Her clothes are always perfect." If you take a small sample of food, that's also a taste, as is a quick experience: "I only had a taste of what living in Paris would be like." Taste comes from the Old French taster, "to feel."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

taste tastes tasted tasting

Through constant touring and “tireless promotion of composers we assume were always famous,” Ms. Fritz writes, Clara shaped the musical canon according to her own exquisite ear and sophisticated taste.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

Sylvia describes eating without feeling fully connected to the experience, whether to the taste of the food, the presence of it in her body, or how it makes her feel afterward.

From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026

After about a full minute of pensive, progressive, electronic buildup, listeners get a taste of bliss, sewn-in synths and heavy bass.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026

Supporters would argue he is a man who is ready to administer the medicine the nation needs, even if people do not like the taste of it.

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026

“I was always trying to sneak a taste of her food,” I admit.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold

But it might also be dinner for an exhausted parent who wants twenty minutes back and misses what the inside of a restaurant tastes like.

From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026

It’s one of those places locals know, and somehow it always tastes even better after a fun night.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Skywalker Grill marks his first West Coast project, which required learning California’s seasonality, its markets and its tastes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

The judge also noted that Agarwal was "clearly a man of ample means who has expensive tastes", in contrast to Lee "who was not in that league".

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

“I have it on good authority that it tastes like chicken, but as I’ve never had chicken before, I can’t really say how true that is.”

From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston

If I ate a soup I liked out in the world, I’d jot down what was in it, what the broth tasted like, sometimes sketch the bowl.

From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026

The oysters from Heron Island, a one-man operation in Fitch Cove about three miles downstream from Schooner Landing, tasted of grass-fed butter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026

"I tried every diet in the book. I tried some that weren't in the book. I tried eating the book. It tasted better than most of the diets."

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

I took a bite of the buttery Texas toast and the crinkle-cut fries, then dipped them into the creamy, peppery Cane’s Sauce, which tasted something like pickled ranch.

From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026

It tasted like rotten vegetables, and it was slimy, and I think I swallowed a worm.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff

A 40-year-old winery, Rosenthal - The Malibu Estate, announced it will begin closing down this week after its tasting room was destroyed in the 2025 Palisades fire, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

At Chizay, dozens of Ukrainian tourists recently joined a guided tour and tasting.

From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026

Of the youngsters tasting Solheim singles action for the first time only Rhodes failed to win and it took a brilliant performance from world number one Nelly Korda to beat her on the final day.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

It was dark and deeply moist, a little earthy without tasting particularly of vegetables, and studded throughout with hunks of chocolate.

From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026

It’s sour tasting and contains bits of maize that settle at the bottom, requiring you to shake it up before enjoying, hence the name.

From "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" by William Kamkwamba

Related Words

• appetite
• desire
• fondness
• heart
• palate
• penchant
• type
• understanding