I. taste 1 S2 W2 /teɪst/ BrE AmE noun
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ taste , ↑ distaste , ↑ tastefulness , ↑ taster , ↑ tasting ; adjective : ↑ tasteful ≠ ↑ tasteless , ↑ distasteful , ↑ tasty ; adverb : ↑ tastefully , ↑ distastefully ; verb : ↑ taste ]
1 . FOOD
a) [uncountable and countable] the feeling that is produced by a particular food or drink when you put it in your mouth SYN flavour :
The medicine had a slightly bitter taste.
taste of
I don’t really like the taste of meat any more.
b) [uncountable] the sense by which you know one food from another:
Some birds have a highly developed sense of taste.
c) have a taste (of something) if you have a taste of some food or drink, you put a small amount in your mouth to try it:
You must have a taste of the fruitcake.
2 . WHAT YOU LIKE [uncountable and countable] the kind of things that someone likes
taste in
He asked about my taste in music.
taste for
While she was in France she developed a taste for fine wines.
3 . JUDGMENT [uncountable] someone’s judgment when they choose clothes, decorations etc
have good/bad etc taste
She has such good taste.
taste in
Some people have really bad taste in clothes.
4 . WHAT IS ACCEPTABLE/NOT OFFENSIVE [uncountable] the quality of being acceptable and not offensive:
All television companies accept the need to maintain standards of taste and decency.
be in bad/poor etc taste (=likely to offend people)
She acknowledged her remark had been in bad taste.
5 . EXPERIENCE [usually singular] a short experience of something that shows you what it is like
taste of
Schoolchildren can get a taste of the countryside first-hand.
It gave him his first taste of acting for the big screen.
The autumn storms gave us a taste of what was to come (=showed what would happen later) .
6 . FEELING [singular] the feeling that you have after an experience, especially a bad experience:
The way he spoke to those children left a nasty taste in my mouth.
the bitter taste of failure
the sweet taste of victory
7 . ... to taste if you add salt, spices etc to taste, you add as much as you think makes it taste right – used in instructions in cook books:
Add salt to taste.
⇨ give somebody a taste of their own medicine at ↑ medicine (4)
• • •
COLLOCATIONS (for Meaning 1)
■ adjectives
▪ delicious
The taste was absolutely delicious.
|
a delicious creamy taste
▪ nasty/unpleasant
Some tablets have a nasty taste.
▪ strange/odd/peculiar/funny
The sweets had a rather peculiar taste.
▪ strong
This cheese has quite a strong taste.
▪ mild
The taste of the leaves is milder than the root.
▪ sweet
The fruits have an excellent sweet taste.
▪ bitter
The brandy would not have masked the bitter taste of the poison.
▪ sour
The purpose of the lemon’s sour taste may be to stop the fruit being eaten by animals.
▪ salty
He was conscious of the salty taste of his own blood.
▪ spicy
Add a little curry powder to give it a spicy taste.
▪ creamy/buttery/fruity/nutty etc (=tasting of cream, butter etc)
The cookies had a very buttery taste.
▪ bland (=not strong or interesting)
Some people find the taste of rice too bland.
▪ distinctive
Hops give beer its distinctive bitter taste.
■ verbs
▪ have a sweet/strange etc taste
The soup had a funny taste.
▪ give something a taste
The spices gave the bread a rather interesting taste.
■ COMMON ERRORS
► Do not say ' it is sweet taste ' or ' it is nice taste '. Say it has a sweet taste or it has a nice taste .
• • •
COLLOCATIONS (for Meaning 2)
■ adjectives
▪ similar/the same
We have similar musical tastes.
▪ same/similar/different
Their tastes in movies were very different.
▪ expensive/sophisticated
He was a man of expensive tastes
(=he liked expensive things.)
▪ simple
He was a man of simple tastes
(=he liked simple things)
▪ eclectic (=liking a wide variety of different things)
My tastes are very eclectic.
▪ musical/literary/artistic taste
His musical tastes changed radically.
▪ your personal taste
Which one you choose is a question of personal taste.
▪ public/popular taste
The shop created a unique style of goods that appealed to the popular taste.
▪ an acquired taste (=something that people do not like at first)
This kind of tea is an acquired taste, but very refreshing.
▪ consumer tastes
Changes in consumer tastes result in the expansion of some industries and the contraction of others.
■ verbs
▪ have ... tastes
Josh and I have the same tastes.
▪ have a taste for something (=like something)
She certainly has a taste for adventure.
▪ get/develop a taste for something ( also acquire a taste for something formal ) (=to start to like something)
At university she developed a taste for performing.
▪ share a taste (=have the same taste as someone else)
You obviously share her taste in literature.
▪ suit/satisfy/appeal to sb’s tastes (=provide what someone likes)
We have music to suit every taste.
|
The magazine caters for all tastes.
■ phrases
▪ be to sb’s taste (=be something that someone likes)
If her books are not to your taste, there are plenty of books by other writers.
▪ be too bright/modern etc for sb’s taste
The building was too modern for my taste.
▪ something is a matter of taste (=different people have different opinions about what is good or right)
Which of the two methods you use is largely a matter of taste.
▪ there’s no accounting for taste (=used humorously to say that you do not understand why someone likes something)
• • •
THESAURUS
■ describing the taste of something
▪ delicious having a very good taste:
This cake is delicious!
|
a delicious meal
▪ disgusting/revolting having a very bad taste:
The medicine tasted disgusting.
|
They had to eat revolting things, like fish eyes.
▪ sweet tasting full of sugar:
The oranges were very sweet.
▪ tasty especially spoken tasting good and with plenty of flavour:
She cooked us a simple but tasty meal.
|
That was really tasty!
▪ sour/tart having a taste that stings your tongue slightly, like lemon does – used especially when this is rather unpleasant:
The apples were a little sour.
|
The wine has rather a tart taste, which not everyone will like.
▪ tangy having a taste that stings your tongue slightly, like lemon does, in a way that seems good:
The dressing was nice and tangy.
▪ bitter having a strong taste which is not sweet and is sometimes rather unpleasant – used for example about black coffee, or chocolate without sugar:
bitter chocolate
|
The medicine had rather a bitter taste.
|
Hops give beer its distinctive bitter taste.
▪ salty containing a lot of salt:
Danish salami has a salty flavour.
▪ hot/spicy having a burning taste because it contains strong spices:
I love hot curries.
|
a spicy tomato sauce
▪ piquant /ˈpiːkənt/ formal a little spicy – used especially by people who write about food. This word can sound rather ↑ pretentious in everyday conversation:
cooked vegetables in a piquant sauce
▪ mild not having a strong or hot taste – usually used about foods that can sometimes be spicy:
a mild curry
▪ bland not having an interesting taste:
I found the sauce rather bland.
II. taste 2 S2 BrE AmE verb
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ taste , ↑ distaste , ↑ tastefulness , ↑ taster , ↑ tasting ; adjective : ↑ tasteful ≠ ↑ tasteless , ↑ distasteful , ↑ tasty ; adverb : ↑ tastefully , ↑ distastefully ; verb : ↑ taste ]
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: taster 'to touch, test, taste' , from Vulgar Latin taxitare , from Latin taxare ; ⇨ ↑ tax 2 ]
1 . [linking verb] to have a particular kind of taste
taste good/delicious/sweet/fresh etc
Mmm! This tastes good!
The food tasted better than it looked.
taste awful/disgusting etc
The coffee tasted awful.
taste of something
This yoghurt tastes of strawberries.
It didn’t taste much of ginger.
taste like something
It tastes just like champagne to me.
What does pumpkin taste like (=how would you describe its taste) ?
sweet-tasting/bitter-tasting etc
a sweet-tasting soup
2 . [transitive not in progressive] to experience or recognize the taste of food or drink:
She could taste blood.
Can you taste the difference?
It was like nothing I’d ever tasted before.
3 . [transitive] to eat or drink a small amount of something to see what it is like:
It’s always best to keep tasting the food while you’re cooking it.
4 . taste success/freedom/victory etc to have a short experience of something that you want more of:
There was a lot of hard work before we first tasted success.
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ adjectives
▪ taste good/nice/delicious/great
The apples weren’t very big but they tasted good.
▪ taste horrible/awful/disgusting/foul
The tea tasted horrible.
▪ taste funny/odd/strange
These fruit drinks taste a bit funny until you get used to them.
▪ taste sweet/bitter/sour/salty
He handed me some black stuff which tasted bitter.
■ adverbs
▪ taste strongly of something
The water tasted strongly of chlorine.
■ phrases
▪ sweet-tasting/strong-tasting etc
a sweet-tasting drink