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.
To complement all that bread and cheese, the book also gives recipes for some zesty salads and, if you have room, a rich dessert.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 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
This zesty condensation of an 18-volume, 1300-page epic is a model of streamlining, even if the narrative’s many tantalizing threads, emotions and complications could stand to be fleshed out even more.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 20, 2024
For that, I borrowed some of the zesty, spicy flavors of larb.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 14, 2024
Jeffrey’s “Dangerous Pie” was a zesty blend of coffee grounds, raw eggs and their smashed shells, Coke, uncooked bacon, and three Matchbox racing cars.
From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick
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.
