flavor

Pluralflavors

Formsflavors, flavoring, flavored

1. 1
   tastenouncountable or uncountable

   The overall quality of taste in something, produced by taste alone or, more often, by taste and smell in combined effect.

   Slow roasting brings out the deep flavor of the vegetables.

   Pinching your nose while eating shows how much flavor depends on smell.

   Similartaste, savor, tang

   Note

   A word that began in the nose. Its Middle English ancestor meant a smell, usually a pleasing one, borrowed from Old French and traced back to Latin flare, "to blow." That history suits the modern sense, which leans on smell as much as taste. It works as a mass noun (full of flavor) and countably (the flavors of a dish). For the substance added to food, the word is flavoring.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A particular variety of taste given to or identified with a food, candy, drink, medicine, or similar product.

   The pharmacy offers the children's medicine in a grape flavor.

   Pumpkin spice has become the signature fall flavor at coffee shops across the country.

   Similartaste, variety

3. 3
   added ingredientnouncountable or uncountable

   A substance added to food or drink to produce a particular taste; a flavoring.

   The bakery uses real almond flavor rather than a synthetic substitute.

   Food scientists blend dozens of compounds to create a single strawberry flavor.

   Similarextract, essence

4. 4
   typenouncolloquialfigurativelycountable

   A kind or type; one version or variety among a set of similar options.

   Linux comes in dozens of flavors, each aimed at a different kind of user.

   The startup pitched its own flavor of subscription model to investors.

   Similarvariety, version, type, kind, style

   Note

   A figurative stretch from the candy-and-gum variety: just as gum comes in flavors, so do software and systems. The use is at home in computing, where Debian is one flavor of Linux, and the usual phrasing is "one flavor of X" or "comes in several flavors." It is informal. In formal technical writing, variant, distribution or version is the safer choice.

5. 5
   characternouncountable or uncountable

   The distinctive character or quality that something possesses or conveys.

   The translation preserves the flavor of the original poem.

   Wandering the open-air market gave us a real flavor of daily life in the city.

   Similarcharacter, spirit, essence, feel, taste

   Note

   A sample often stands in for the whole here: to give someone the flavor of something is to offer a taste that conveys its character. Mike Riegle, writing in 1983, reads from a pair of letters "to give you the flavor of the issues" gay prisoners faced. Besides flavor of, the word pairs readily with adjectives: local flavor, a strong regional flavor.

6. 6
   give taste toverbtransitive

   To add a flavoring or seasoning to something, giving it a particular taste.

   The chef flavors the broth with ginger and star anise.

   Distillers flavor the gin with juniper berries and citrus peel.

   Similarseason, spice, infuse, lace

   Note

   The verb usually takes with for what is added: flavor the broth with ginger. Its present participle, flavoring, also serves as a noun for the added substance, close to flavor as an ingredient. The past participle flavored works readily as an adjective before a noun, as in flavored water.

7. 7
   cool stylenounslanguncountable

   Distinctive personal style or flair, especially in dress, music, dance, or self-presentation.

   The crew's routines blend classic breaking with their own flavor.

   She raps with a flavor nobody else in the scene can match.

   Similarstyle, flair, swagger, panache, vibe

   Note

   Hip-hop slang for style with presence, usually uncountable: you bring the flavor, or you have flavor. Queen Latifah's "Bring The Flavor," from Black Reign (1993), turns the phrase into a boast, with the rapper naming herself as the one who brings it. The use belongs to the slang of hip-hop and dance. In neutral writing, style or flair says the same thing without the swagger.

8. 8
   physicsnouncountable

   One of the six types of quark (up, down, strange, charmed, top, and bottom) or the three types of lepton (electron, muon, and tauon).

   Neutrinos oscillate between flavors as they travel through space.

   The strange quark carries a different flavor than the up quark.

   Note

   Physicists borrowed the word as a label with no connection to taste. Flavor says which kind of quark or lepton a particle is, and its values carry names such as strange and charmed. Strong and electromagnetic interactions leave flavor unchanged, while weak interactions can turn one flavor into another.

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