taste
Pluraltastes
Pluraltastes
- 1One of the sensations the tongue produces in response to certain chemicals, or the quality in food that produces it.
A pinch of salt changed the taste of the whole dish.
Ripe fruit develops a sweeter taste as its sugars build up.
UsageUsually the taste of something; food has a sweet or bitter taste, and can leave a taste in your mouth.
Similarflavor
- 2To have a particular flavor; to produce the sensation by which a flavor is recognized.
The bread tastes faintly of honey.
Fresh herbs taste brighter than dried ones.
UsageTakes an adjective: tastes good (not
incorrect: tastes well); before a noun use like or of: tastes like garlic, tastes of honey. - 3To try food or drink by eating or drinking a small amount of it, to find out its flavor.
Always taste a dish before serving it to guests.
He tasted the wine carefully, then nodded to the waiter.
Similarsample
- 4An individual's implicit set of preferences, especially in aesthetic matters but also in food, dress, and the like.
His taste in furniture favors clean, modern lines.
Her taste in music runs from old jazz to loud punk rock.
UsageUse in before the field: taste in music, her taste in clothes. For one liking, say a taste for something.
Note
The plural tastes names a person's whole leaning, as in Robert W. Chambers's The Younger Set (1907): "My tastes incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet."
- 5An individual's personal preference, liking, or predilection.
Travel gave him a taste for foreign cooking.
She acquired a taste for early mornings after years on a farm.
UsageUsually a taste for something, often with acquire, develop or get: develop a taste for spicy food.
- 6The bodily sense by which flavors are perceived and interpreted, centered on the tongue.
After surgery, her taste slowly returned over several weeks.
Smell and taste work together to let us enjoy a meal.
UsageOften in the sense of taste, and paired with smell: taste and smell.
- 7The capacity to recognize what is attractive, elegant, or fitting, or what is socially appropriate rather than offensive.
The hotel lobby was furnished with real taste: plain wood, soft colors, and no clutter.
Running the ad the day after the tragedy showed a stunning lack of taste.
UsageA person has taste; a joke or remark is in good taste or in bad taste.
Oppositevulgarity, tastelessness
Note
Plural tastes belong to someone's own preferences, which can run in any direction; taste in this sense implies a judgment others are expected to share.
- 8A brief experience of something that gives a sense of what the whole is like.
The internship offered a taste of life as a surgeon.
Their first match gave the rookies a taste of professional pressure.
UsageUsually a taste of something, often with get or give; a taste of things to come hints at more ahead.
- 9A small amount of food or drink, or of a recreational drug, that is given or taken so someone can sample it, meaning the bit itself rather than the act of trying it.
The chef offered each guest a taste of the new dish.
He took just a taste of the whiskey before driving home.
UsageOften have a taste or a taste of something: can I have a taste?
- 10To recognize a particular flavor by sampling something with the mouth.
Can you taste the lemon in this dressing?
Experienced brewers can taste subtle differences between batches.
UsageUsually with can (I can taste the lemon); the object is usually the flavor or ingredient you notice.
Similardetect, discern, distinguish
- 11To experience something, especially for the first time.
He longed to taste life beyond his small hometown.
Having escaped at last, they tasted real freedom.
UsageOften with victory, defeat, freedom or success; older writing also has taste of: taste of death.
Similarexperience
Note
The King James Bible of 1611 has "He … should taste death for every man." Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (c. 1599) uses of instead: "The valiant never taste of death but once."
Less common meanings
- 12To take or partake of something only sparingly.
Oppositegorge
Note
Restraint is the point here, the opposite of devouring. John Dryden's poem to his kinsman John Driden (1700) sets the two side by side: "Age but tastes of pleasures, youth devours." Like the "experience" sense, it takes of. That construction suits a sense about taking only part of what is offered.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- John Dryden wrote the poem addressed to his kinsman John Driden. en.wikisource.org
- The poem was first published in 1700, in Fables, Ancient and Modern. en.wikipedia.org
- The quoted words occur in the poem, contrasting restrained enjoyment with devouring and illustrating tastes of. en.wikisource.org
- 13To examine something by touching or handling it.
Note
An obsolete use that keeps the word's origin in plain view: the hand rather than the tongue. George Chapman's translation of Homer (1614–1615) has "to taste the bow," meaning to test it by handling. That matches the Latin "to touch sharply" behind the flavor sense. In older verse, read it as try or handle, with no thought of flavor.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Taste has an obsolete sense meaning to test by touch or handle. en.wiktionary.org
- George Chapman's translation of Homer's Odyssey was published around 1614–1615. en.wikipedia.org
- Chapman's Odyssey contains to taste the bow, describing a physical attempt to test or draw it. gutenberg.org
- The etymology of taste traces back through French and reconstructed Vulgar Latin forms to Latin taxāre, meaning to touch sharply. en.wiktionary.org
- 14A narrow, thin silk ribbon.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of taste apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
"Taste" comes from Middle English "tasten," borrowed from Old French "taster," from an assumed Vulgar Latin form based on Latin "taxāre" ("to touch sharply") and ultimately "tangere" ("to touch"), tracing back to Proto-Indo-European. It nearly replaced native Old English words for tasting such as "smæccan" and "byrigan."
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 8 facts
- Taste comes from Middle English tasten, borrowed from Old French taster. en.wiktionary.org
- The French word derives from a reconstructed Vulgar Latin form based on Latin taxāre. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin taxāre means to touch sharply. en.wiktionary.org
- The derivation ultimately involves Latin tangere, meaning to touch. en.wikisource.org
- The Latin ancestry traces back to Proto-Indo-European. en.wiktionary.org
- The tasting verb is smæccan. Smacian is recorded with meanings such as coax, flatter, allure and seduce. upload.wikimedia.org
- Byrigan was an Old English verb meaning to taste. upload.wikimedia.org
- Taste largely displaced inherited native tasting words. en.wiktionary.org