taster
Americannoun
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a person who tastes, especially one skilled in distinguishing the qualities of liquors, tea, etc., by the taste.
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a container for taking samples or tasting.
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a wide shallow cup, usually metal, for holding wine to be tasted, as by a professional taster.
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a person employed or ordered to taste the food and drink prepared for a king, dictator, etc., to ascertain the presence of poison.
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Genetics. a person able to taste phenylthiourea or some other test substance.
noun
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a person who samples food or drink for quality
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any device used in tasting or sampling
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a person employed, esp formerly, to taste food and drink prepared for a king, etc, to test for poison
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a sample or preview of a product, experience, etc, intended to stimulate interest in the product, experience, etc, itself
the single serves as a taster for the band's new album
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of taster
1350–1400; Middle English tastour < Anglo-French. See taste, -er 1
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.
Robert's advice to first-year students struggling to socialise is to just "get out of your room" and go to club and society taster events until you find one you enjoy.
From BBC • Nov. 1, 2025
Kelly Tanner from Blackwood, Caerphilly, arranged for her nine-year old "football-mad" daughter Elen to have a taster session, before she then paid £300 for 10 sessions.
From BBC • Nov. 20, 2024
A taster of an upcoming musical spoofing the disastrous Willy Wonka experience is to premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe.
From BBC • Jun. 4, 2024
Prof Charles Martin, Mademoiselle Pierette Grizel and Mr J R Peddie presented a violin recital, a talk about ballads, a music lesson and even a little French language taster.
From BBC • Mar. 7, 2024
Every product in the supermarket can be analyzed along these lines, and after a taster has worked with these scales for years, they become embedded in the taster’s unconscious.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
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.
