FLAVOUR

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does flavour mean? 

• FLAVOUR (noun)
  The noun FLAVOUR has 3 senses:

1. the general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people

2. (physics) the six kinds of quarks

3. the taste experience when a savoury condiment is taken into the mouth

  Familiarity information: FLAVOUR used as a noun is uncommon.

• FLAVOUR (verb)
  The verb FLAVOUR has 1 sense:

1. lend flavor to

  Familiarity information: FLAVOUR used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FLAVOUR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

feel; feeling; flavor; flavour; look; smell; spirit; tone

Context example:

it had the smell of treason

Hypernyms ("flavour" is a kind of...):

ambiance; ambience; atmosphere (a particular environment or surrounding influence)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "flavour"):

Hollywood (a flashy vulgar tone or atmosphere believed to be characteristic of the American film industry)

Zeitgeist (the spirit of the time; the spirit characteristic of an age or generation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(physics) the six kinds of quarks

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

flavor; flavour

Hypernyms ("flavour" is a kind of...):

form; kind; sort; variety (a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality)

Domain category:

high-energy physics; high energy physics; particle physics (the branch of physics that studies subatomic particles and their interactions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "flavour"):

charm; strangeness ((physics) one of the six flavors of quark)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The taste experience when a savoury condiment is taken into the mouth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

flavor; flavour; nip; relish; sapidity; savor; savour; smack; tang

Hypernyms ("flavour" is a kind of...):

gustatory perception; gustatory sensation; taste; taste perception; taste sensation (the sensation that results when taste buds in the tongue and throat convey information about the chemical composition of a soluble stimulus)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "flavour"):

lemon (a distinctive tart flavor characteristic of lemons)

vanilla (a distinctive fragrant flavor characteristic of vanilla beans)

Derivation:

flavour (lend flavor to)

flavourous (full of flavor)

• FLAVOUR (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lend flavor to

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

flavor; flavour; season

Context example:

Season the chicken breast after roasting it

Cause:

savor; savour; taste (have flavor; taste of something)

Domain category:

cookery; cooking; preparation (the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "flavour"):

sauce (dress (food) with a relish)

curry (season with a mixture of spices; typical of Indian cooking)

resinate (impregnate with resin to give a special flavor to)

spice; spice up; zest (add herbs or spices to)

savor; savour (give taste to)

salt (add salt to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

flavour (the taste experience when a savoury condiment is taken into the mouth)

flavourer; flavouring (something added to food primarily for the savor it imparts)

 Context examples 

The flavour is not disagreeable, but it is perceptible.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Both vertebrates and invertebrates have the ability to recognise potentially toxic flavours, thereby avoiding poisoning.

(Researchers identify area of the amygdala involved in taste aversion, University of Granada)

Ah! it is at the present moment in high flavour.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Grant: these potatoes have as much the flavour of a Moor Park apricot as the fruit from that tree.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I had eaten with relish: the food was good—void of the feverish flavour which had hitherto poisoned what I had swallowed.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It is as well just to have a tag or two of Horace or Virgil: ‘sub tegmine fagi,’ or ‘habet fœnum in cornu,’ which gives a flavour to one’s conversation like the touch of garlic in a salad.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Morning decidedly the best time—never tired—every sort good—hautboy infinitely superior—no comparison—the others hardly eatable—hautboys very scarce—Chili preferred—white wood finest flavour of all—price of strawberries in London—abundance about Bristol—Maple Grove—cultivation—beds when to be renewed—gardeners thinking exactly different—no general rule—gardeners never to be put out of their way—delicious fruit—only too rich to be eaten much of—inferior to cherries—currants more refreshing—only objection to gathering strawberries the stooping—glaring sun—tired to death—could bear it no longer—must go and sit in the shade.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I thought he would have missed its usual flavour, if it had been put there for him by any other hands.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

By no possible supposition could this stranger, Fitzroy Simpson, have caused curry to be served in the trainer’s family that night, and it is surely too monstrous a coincidence to suppose that he happened to come along with powdered opium upon the very night when a dish happened to be served which would disguise the flavour.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It will be a bitter pill to her; that is, like other bitter pills, it will have two moments' ill flavour, and then be swallowed and forgotten; for I am not such a coxcomb as to suppose her feelings more lasting than other women's, though I was the object of them.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)