Definition

1. Noun:

   • The sensation perceived by the tongue when eating or drinking: The sense that allows one to distinguish flavors like sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.
   • A small sample of food or drink: A small amount consumed to judge its flavor.
   • A brief experience of something: A limited exposure to a situation or feeling.
   • Personal preference or liking: A person's individual inclination or fondness for something.
   • The ability to judge what is aesthetically good or appropriate: Discernment in matters of style, beauty, or social behavior.

2. Verb:

   • To perceive or recognize the flavor of something by putting it in the mouth: To use one's sense of taste.
   • To have a particular flavor: To produce a specific sensation on the tongue.
   • To eat or drink a small amount of something: To sample.
   • To experience something, especially briefly: To have a short encounter with a condition or emotion.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • Sugar has a sweet taste. (The flavor sensation of sugar is sweet.)
  • May I have a taste of your soup? (May I try a small sample of your soup?)
  • Working there gave him a taste of responsibility. (Working there provided him with a brief experience of responsibility.)
  • She has expensive taste in clothes. (She has a preference for costly clothing.)
  • The furniture was chosen with impeccable taste. (The furniture was selected with excellent aesthetic judgment.)

• Verb:

  • Can you taste the garlic in this sauce? (Are you able to perceive the flavor of garlic in this sauce?)
  • This milk tastes sour. (This milk has a sour flavor.)
  • The chef tasted the sauce before serving. (The chef sampled the sauce before serving.)
  • He finally tasted freedom after years in prison. (He finally experienced freedom after years in prison.)

Advanced Usage

• "To be in bad/poor taste": To be socially inappropriate, offensive, or lacking aesthetic judgment.
  • His joke about the tragedy was in very poor taste.
• "To be an acquired taste": Something that one learns to like over time.
  • Olives are an acquired taste for many people.
• "There's no accounting for taste": A saying meaning that personal preferences are subjective and cannot be explained or argued.
  • He loves that garish painting, but there's no accounting for taste.

Variants and Related Words

• Tasteful (adjective): Showing good aesthetic judgment or social appropriateness.
  • The room was decorated in a tasteful manner.
• Tasteless (adjective): Lacking flavor; or showing poor aesthetic judgment, vulgar.
  • The soup was bland and tasteless. / He told a tasteless joke.
• Taster (noun): A person who samples food or drink, especially professionally.
  • She works as a wine taster.
• Tasting (noun): An event where samples of food or drink are tried.
  • We went to a cheese tasting.

Synonyms

• Noun (Flavor): Flavor, savor.
• Noun (Preference): Preference, liking, fondness, penchant.
• Noun (Discernment): Discernment, judgment, discrimination.
• Verb (Sample): Sample, try, test.
• Verb (Experience): Experience, know, undergo.

Phrasal Verbs / Related Phrases

• Taste of (something): To have a hint or suggestion of a particular flavor or quality.
  • The stew tasted of herbs and garlic.
• Have a taste for (something): To like or enjoy something.
  • He has a taste for adventure.

Related Idioms

• "A taste of your own medicine": Being treated in the same unpleasant way one has treated others.
  • After being so rude, he got a taste of his own medicine when they ignored him.
• "Leave a bad taste in one's mouth": To create a feeling of disgust, distaste, or dissatisfaction.
  • The unfair decision left a bad taste in my mouth.

Noun

1. a kind of sensing; distinguishing substances by means of the taste buds
   • a wine tasting
2. the faculty of distinguishing sweet, sour, bitter, and salty properties in the mouth
   • his cold deprived him of his sense of taste
3. a small amount eaten or drunk
   • take a taste--you'll like it
4. a brief experience of something
   • he got a taste of life on the wild side
   • she enjoyed her brief taste of independence
5. delicate discrimination (especially of aesthetic values)
   • arrogance and lack of taste contributed to his rapid success
   • to ask at that particular time was the ultimate in bad taste
6. a strong liking
   • my own preference is for good literature
   • the Irish have a penchant for blarney
7. the sensation that results when taste buds in the tongue and throat convey information about the chemical composition of a soluble stimulus
   • the candy left him with a bad taste
   • the melon had a delicious taste

Verb

1. experience briefly
   • The ex-slave tasted freedom shortly before she died
2. distinguish flavors
   • We tasted wines last night
3. have a distinctive or characteristic taste
   • This tastes of nutmeg
4. take a sample of
   • Try these new crackers
   • Sample the regional dishes
5. perceive by the sense of taste
   • Can you taste the garlic?
6. have flavor; taste of something