taste
[noun]
Synonyms:
- flavour, relish, savour, smack, tang
- bit, bite, dash, morsel, mouthful, sample, soupçon, spoonful, titbit
- liking, appetite, fancy, fondness, inclination, partiality, penchant, predilection, preference
- refinement, appreciation, discernment, discrimination, elegance, judgment, sophistication, style
[verb]
Synonyms:
- distinguish, differentiate, discern, perceive
- sample, savour, sip, test, try
- have a flavour of, savour of, smack of
- experience, encounter, know, meet with, partake of, undergo

---

Antonyms: antipathy, distaste, tastelessness
Contrasted words: dislike, disrelish, allergy, aversion, repugnance, repulsion, gracelessness, inelegance, unrefinement, incorrectness, vulgarity
Related Idioms: be exposed to, run up against
Related Words: bit, sample, sampling, appreciation, comprehension, understanding, partiality, predilection, prepossession, disposition, inclination, predisposition, correctness, finesse, polish, refinement, elegance, grace

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. taste¹ S2 W2 /teɪst/ 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 Synonym : 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)

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. taste² S2 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; ⇒ tax²]

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.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

taste
noun
I. flavour
ADJ. delicious, fresh, pleasant, refreshing | distinctive | pungent, rich, strong | bland, mild | foul, nasty, unpleasant | bitter, creamy, metallic, salty, sharp, smooth, sour, spicy, sweet | authentic You need to use fresh herbs to get the authentic Italian taste.
VERB + TASTE have The soup had a very salty taste.
leave The drink left a bitter taste in his mouth. (figurative) The whole business left a nasty taste in my mouth.
spoil Don't have a cigarette now?you'll spoil the taste of your food!
enhance, improve | enjoy, savour She savoured the taste of the champagne.
disguise, take away I had a strong coffee to take away the nasty taste of the food.
TASTE + NOUN buds 2 a taste small amount
ADJ. little | real That job gave me my first real taste of teaching.
first
VERB + TASTE get, have Have a taste of this cake.
give sb, provide (sb with)
PREP. ~ of This was her first taste of success.
PHRASES a taste of things to come The new appraisal scheme is only a taste of things to come.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

taste
III. liking
ADJ. catholic, eclectic, varied, wide | modest, simple | advanced, cultured, educated, sophisticated | expensive, extravagant | eccentric, esoteric, strange | acquired, natural Art is an acquired taste?no one is born knowing that Michelangelo is wonderful.
natural | local, national | modern | personal, private | aesthetic, artistic, literary, musical, reading, sexual | audience, consumer, contemporary, popular, public, Western Her msuic appeals to popular taste.
VERB + TASTE have They have a taste for adventure.
like, share You obviously share her taste in reading.
acquire, cultivate, develop, get | lose I've lost my taste for travelling.
indulge Now he is retired he has time to indulge his tastes for writing and politics.
demonstrate, display Her choice of outfit demonstrated her taste for the outrageous.
appeal to, cater for, match, meet, satisfy, suit a range of hotels to suit all tastes and budgets
TASTE + VERB lie It all depends on where your tastes lie.
change, differ, vary Lifestyles differ and tastes vary.
PREP. for your ~ The theatre was too modern for my taste.
to ~ (= according to how much of sth as you want) Add salt and pepper to taste.
to your ~ If fishing is not to your taste, there are many other leisure activities on offer.
~ for People with a taste for complex plots will enjoy this book.
~ in young people's tastes in music
PHRASES a man/woman of … tastes a man of advanced tastes
a matter of (personal) taste What type of bicycle you should buy is very much a matter of personal taste.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

taste
IV. ability to make good choices
ADJ. excellent, exquisite, good, great, impeccable Her work is executed with impeccable taste.
appalling, bad, deplorable, doubtful, dubious, poor, terrible
VERB + TASTE reflect, show The house reflected his taste.
exercise The designer has exercised good taste in her use of different fonts.
PREP. in … ~ That joke was in very poor taste.
with ~ The room had been decorated with great taste.
~ in She has terrible taste in clothing.
PHRASES an arbiter of taste Contemporary arbiters of taste dismissed his paintings as rubbish.
in the best/worst possible taste The love scenes are all done in the best possible taste.
a lack of taste The remark showed a deplorable lack of taste.
a man/woman of taste, taste and decency The film was judged to offend against standards of public taste and decency.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

taste
verb
ADV. strongly The water tasted strongly of chemicals.
faintly, slightly The fish tasted faintly of garlic.
PREP. like The fruit tasted rather like mango.
of a cake which tasted of almonds
PHRASES taste awful/bitter/foul/horrible, taste delicious/good/sweet/wonderful, taste funny

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

taste

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.
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.
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.
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.
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)

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

taste
I.
verb
1.
BAD: During your visit you'll be able to taste some of the local Catalan specialities.
GOOD: During your visit you'll be able to try some of the local Catalan specialities.

Usage Note:
When you taste something, you put a little into your mouth to see what it is like: 'The chef stirred the soup, tasted it, and then added a little salt. When you have something to eat or drink for the first time, you try it. 'I think I'll try the onion soup. What's it like?'

---

2.
See NOTE AT FEEL 2

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

taste
II.
noun
1.
BAD: I buy all my family's clothes because my husband has such a poor taste.
GOOD: I buy all my family's clothes because my husband has such poor taste.

Usage Note:
have good/poor/little/no taste (in sth ), (WITHOUT a/an ): 'She certainly has remarkably good taste in clothes.'

---

2.
BAD: We all thought that the joke was of a very bad taste.
GOOD: We all thought that the joke was in very bad taste.

Usage Note:
be in good/poor/bad taste : 'These advertisements are in very bad taste and in my opinion should be banned.'

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

taste
teɪst
See: leave a bad taste in one's mouth

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲