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taster

American  
[tay-ster] / ˈteɪ stər /

noun

  • tasters
    plural
  1. a person who tastes, especially one skilled in distinguishing the qualities of liquors, tea, etc., by the taste.

  2. a container for taking samples or tasting.

  3. a wide shallow cup, usually metal, for holding wine to be tasted, as by a professional taster.

  4. a person employed or ordered to taste the food and drink prepared for a king, dictator, etc., to ascertain the presence of poison.

  5. Genetics. a person able to taste phenylthiourea or some other test substance.


taster British  
/ ˈteɪstə /

noun

  1. a person who samples food or drink for quality

  2. any device used in tasting or sampling

  3. a person employed, esp formerly, to taste food and drink prepared for a king, etc, to test for poison

  4. 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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

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.

See Examples For:

Beyond tennis, there are a host of leisure centres which offer free fitness class taster sessions, external.

From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026

The friends have already introduced several of their Nail It DIY taster sessions that have attracted attendees of various ages and experience levels.

From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2026

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

Parents told the BBC they paid between £180 and £975 for blocks of one-to-one coaching sessions and that often just one or two were delivered - including a free taster.

From BBC ● Nov. 20, 2024

Every place they stayed was first secured by the King’s Guard, and every meal they ate was first tasted by the King’s chief taster to ensure that the food was not poisoned.

From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo

One way to think about the system is as a group of specialized tasters sampling different aspects of the same complex mixture.

From Science Daily ● May 26, 2026

Chief creative officer Rupert Majendie explained this could include incentives to production companies to encourage them to invest in pilots and tasters to help comedians make the next step.

From BBC ● Apr. 4, 2026

It’s then that Herrera reveals the percentage each vineyard contributed to the final blend, but only after inserting a past vintage of Red Stitch into the mix unbeknownst to the tasters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2025

The minister, Francesco Lollobrigida, suggested in March establishing a task force of tasters to monitor quality standards in Italian restaurants around the world, to avoid chefs getting recipes wrong or using ingredients that aren't Italian.

From Reuters ● Nov. 25, 2023

Having lunch with professional food tasters, of course, is a tricky proposition.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

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