salad

noun

SAL-uhd/ˈsæl.əd/

5 meanings of salad

1
nouncountable or uncountable
A dish made mainly from a mixture of raw or cold ingredients, usually vegetables, and typically served with a dressing such as vinegar or mayonnaise.
The waiter brought a colorful salad dressed with olive oil and vinegar.
Cold potato salads are a staple at almost every summer picnic.
Note
Salt sits at the root of the word: Middle English salade came through Old French and Northern Italian from Latin sal, because Roman cooks seasoned vegetables with brine or salty oil-and-vinegar dressings. The noun works both ways, as in a couple of cheese salads or some salad on the side, and a noun placed in front, as in chicken salad, names the main ingredient. Shakespeare could still speak of picking salads as if they were herbs.
2
nouncountable or uncountable
A mixture of raw or cold ingredients whose main base is leafy greens, most especially lettuce, usually served with a dressing.
She tossed a simple salad of romaine, arugula, and a lemon dressing.
Most of the leafy salads on the menu come with a vinaigrette.
3
nounidiomaticcountable or uncountable
A varied blend or mixture of different things gathered together.
Her speech was a strange salad of facts, jokes, and half-finished thoughts.
The committee handed back a salad of conflicting proposals.
Similarmixture, medley, hodgepodge, jumble, mishmash
Note
The figurative use keeps the idea of tossing unlike things together, and it usually runs in the frame a salad of plus a plural noun. It can lean toward jumble rather than harmony. Gurvinder Singh in 2021 called Pakistan "a hotchpotch salad of people," pairing it with hotchpotch to double the sense of disorder.
4
noununcountable
A raw vegetable of the kind typically used in salads.
The grocer stacked crisp salad beside the radishes and fresh herbs.
She rinsed the salad and patted the leaves dry before serving.
Similargreens, lettuce, leaves
5
nounUKuncountable
Lettuce, the leafy green vegetable.
He asked the deli to put extra salad on his baguette.
The ploughman's lunch came with cheese, pickle, and a bit of salad.
Similarlettuce, greens
Note
British English uses the word for lettuce itself, as a mass noun. A little salad on a burger or extra salad in a baguette means some leaves, not the mixed dish served alongside. A reader expecting a side plate may be surprised. The setting, usually a sandwich or a burger, is what signals this sense.

Practice

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Origin

It comes from Middle English salade, from Old French salade, borrowed from Northern Italian salada or salata (compare insalata), from Vulgar Latin *salāta and ultimately from Latin sal ("salt"). In Roman times vegetables were seasoned with brine or salty oil-and-vinegar dressings.