zesty
Americanadjective
-
full of zest; piquant.
a zesty salad dressing.
-
energetic; active.
zesty trading in growth stocks.
Etymology
Origin of zesty
Explanation
Something that's zesty is fun and exciting. The zesty crowd that attends your party is lively, enthusiastic, and maybe even a little bit loud. People and parties can both be described as zesty, but you can also talk specifically about food that tastes zesty. When you eat a zesty lunch, it's highly flavored or even spicy. If you give her the extra hot salsa, your mom might say, "Ooh, these enchiladas are zesty!" The adjective comes from zest, the word for the outer part of an orange or lemon peel, which is often added to recipes for extra flavor.
Vocabulary lists containing zesty
Tasteful Terms: Flavorful Words
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Words to Describe Food
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -y
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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.
With its zesty appreciation for the city’s landscape of oddballs, menacing and disarming alike, “Tuner” has some similarity to one of last year’s best pictures, “Caught Stealing.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026
Even the brighter dishes — the lemony pasta, the zesty black bean salad — are about steadiness as much as sparkle: reliable, make-ahead, happy to wait for you.
From Salon • Dec. 18, 2025
But the zesty, illuminating “The World According to Allee Willis” feels like what the showbiz biodoc was meant for, to give voice to someone who was so much more than a ubiquitous album-sleeve credit.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 15, 2024
For that, I borrowed some of the zesty, spicy flavors of larb.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 14, 2024
He makes me the most zesty yet subtle macaroni and cheese I’ve ever had.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
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.
