taste

1 /teIst/ noun

1 FOOD (singular, uncountable) the special feeling that is produced by a particular food or drink when you put it in your mouth: Sugar has a sweet taste. | Has the milk gone sour? It's got a funny taste. | the strong taste of the coffee

2 JUDGEMENT (U) someone's judgement about what is good or suitable when they choose clothes, music etc: have (good) taste (=make good judgements): She has instinctive good taste. | have bad/no taste: Mick has really bad taste in clothes.

3 STH YOU LIKE (C, U) the type of thing that you tend to like

(+ for/in): His tastes in films and books were very different from her own. | have a taste for: I've always had a taste for jazz and blues music. | to sb's taste (=in a way that someone likes): She had the whole house redecorated to her taste. | have no taste for (=not like something at all)

4 SMALL AMOUNT (usually singular) a small amount of food or drink that you put in your mouth to try it: Have a taste of this soup and see if it needs more salt.

5 WITH TONGUE (U) the sense by which you know one food from another: You need a good sense of taste to be a chef.

6 be in bad/poor taste jokes, remarks etc that are in bad taste are unacceptable, especially because they upset someone: I thought your terrorist joke was in pretty bad taste.

7 a taste of fame/success etc a short experience of something that you want more of

8 leave a bad/nasty taste in your mouth to feel angry or upset as a result of seeing or hearing something unpleasant: The way he spoke to those children left a nasty taste in my mouth.

9 to taste a phrase meaning as much as is needed to make something taste the way you like, used in instructions for cooking: Add salt and pepper to taste.

10 an acquired taste something that you like only after you have tried it several times: Olives are something of an acquired taste.

11 there is no accounting for taste used to say that you do not understand why someone has chosen something: He's so nice - I don't see why you don't like him. But there's no accounting for taste.

2 verb

1 (intransitive not in progressive) to have a particular kind of taste: taste delicious/sweet/fresh etc: The mangoes tasted delicious. | This wine tastes too acidic. | taste like: This chicken tastes more like turkey. | What does pumpkin taste like? | taste of: over-ripe cheese tasting of ammonia | sweet-tasting/strong-tasting etc (=having a sweet, strong etc taste): strong-tasting coffee

2 (T) to put a small amount of food or drink into your mouth to see what it is like: You'd better taste the soup to see if I put enough salt in it. | Come on, just taste it!

3 (transitive not in progressive) to experience the taste of food or drink: I can hardly taste what I'm eating because of my cold.

4 taste fame/freedom etc to have a short experience of something that you want more of: We had tasted success and wanted more..

USAGE NOTE: TASTE WORD CHOICE: taste, try, sample, savour (BrE)/ savor (AmE) If you eat or drink a little of something just in order to find out its taste or flavour, you taste it: Have you tasted this wine yet? However, taste is much more often used in other meanings, where you receive the taste of something but do not actively search for it: Can you taste the spices in this dish? | This wine tastes great (NOT This wine is very good taste). In fact most often people use the word try for when they eat or drink something deliberately to see if they like it - not just what it tastes like, but also what it looks like, its smell etc: You must try this wine/our local dishes/the salmon. You may also sample food or drink, that is try just a little, perhaps not a full dish or meal: You'll have a chance to sample all the cheeses of the region. If you spend time enjoying the taste of something you savour it: Here you can relax, chat and savour a variety of local dishes.