taste
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /teɪst/
rhymes: -eɪst
Forms: form: tastes
form: tast
Etymology: From Middle English tasten, borrowed from Old French taster, from assumed Vulgar Latin *tastāre, from assumed Vulgar Latin *taxitāre, a new iterative of Latin taxāre (“to touch sharply”), from tangere (“to touch”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g-. Almost displaced native Middle English smaken, smakien (“to taste”) (from Old English smacian (“to taste”)), Middle English smecchen (“to taste, smack”) (from Old English smæċċan (“to taste”)) (whence Modern English smack), Middle English buriȝen (“to taste”) (from Old English byrigan, birian (“to taste”)).
Senses: examples: text: He had a strange taste in his mouth.
text: Venison has a strong taste.
text: Like smell, taste has been found to imprint our minds with strong memories.
ref: 2023 June 15, Rebecca Wallwork, “‘You had to be there’: Foods that taste better on home turf”, in CNN:
glosses: One of the sensations produced by the tongue in response to certain chemicals; the quality of giving this sensation.
examples: text: His taste was impaired by an illness.
glosses: The sense that consists in the perception and interpretation of this sensation.
glosses: A small sample of food, drink, or recreational drugs.
examples: text: Dr. Parker has good taste in wine.
text: That's very true indeed Sir Peter! after having married you I should never pretend to Taste again I allow.
ref: 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, II.i:
text: "My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects;[…]."
ref: 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
text: The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
glosses: A person's implicit set of preferences, especially esthetic, though also culinary, sartorial, etc.
examples: text: I have developed a taste for fine wine.
glosses: Personal preference; liking; predilection.
examples: text: Such anecdotes give one a taste of life on a trauma ward.
text: I'm all out of luck / I'm all out of faith / I would give everything just for one taste / But everything's here, all out of place[…]
ref: 2007, KT Tunstall, “Saving My Face”, in Drastic Fantastic:
glosses: A small amount of experience with something that gives a sense of its quality as a whole.
glosses: A kind of narrow and thin silk ribbon.
Synonyms: sense: sensation produced by the tongue
word: smack
word: smatch
sense: set of preferences
word: discernment
sense: set of preferences
word: culture
sense: set of preferences
word: refinement
sense: set of preferences
word: style
sense: small amount of experience
word: impression
sense: small amount of experience
word: sample
sense: small amount of experience
word: trial
Hyponyms: sense: sensation produced by the tongue
word: relish
sense: sensation produced by the tongue
word: savor
Meronyms: sense: sensation produced by the tongue
word: bitter
sense: sensation produced by the tongue
word: salty
sense: sensation produced by the tongue
word: sour
sense: sensation produced by the tongue
word: sweet
sense: sensation produced by the tongue
word: spicy
sense: sensation produced by the tongue
word: umami
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: acquired taste
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: aftertaste
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: all of one's taste is in one's mouth
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: all one's taste is in one's mouth
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: bad taste in one's mouth
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: champagne taste on a beer billfold
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: champagne taste on a beer budget
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: champagne taste on a beer pocketbook
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: champagne taste on a beer salary
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: champagne taste on a beer wallet
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: in bad taste
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: in poor taste
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: leave a sour taste in one's mouth
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: tastebud
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: tasteless
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: taste map
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: taste-off
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: taste of one's own medicine
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: taste of one's own poison
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: taste pore
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: taste-test
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: tasty
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: there's no accounting for taste
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: to one's taste
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: to someone's taste
sense: Terms derived from taste (noun)
word: to taste