Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Cooked enough to be firm but not soft: pasta al dente.
Wiktionary
- adj. firm (used of pasta which is cooked just right)
WordNet 3.0
- adj. of pasta cooked so as to be firm when eaten
Etymologies
- Italian al (“to the”) + dente (“tooth”). (Wiktionary)
- Italian : al, to the + dente, tooth. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Casey took me there once — spaghetti alia matriciana al dente and buscetti with an ice-cold bottle of beer followed by the piccata and more beer.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘al dente’.
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The Pasta Master
My favourite is potato
gnocchi,interesting that lists
devoted to pasta exclusively
missed pasta puttanesca,those who
really textually mine dictionaries
would not miss...trofie, torchio, sorprese lisce, strozzapreti, sorprese, rotini, ricciutelle, ricciolini, rotelle, radiatori, pipe, orecchiette and 391 more...
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Realia from Everywhere
Culturally defined terms and expressions from the four corners of the world
fjord, mistral steppe, tornado, tsunami, polder, kiwi, koala, sequoia, Abominable Snowman, paprika, spaghetti, empanada and 299 more...
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tom, dick and harry
merry andrew, spotted dick, black jack, lazy susan, bloody mary, charley horse, doubting thomas, willy nilly, jolly roger, peg leg, catherine wheel, charlotte russe and 156 more...
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lanklenmot's Words
ineluctable, prelapsarian, bien pensant, prospero, preternatural, gratifying, iconoclast, cineast, persnickety, tumescent, galvanize, pap and 887 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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spamdad's Words
lambic, weizenbock, bock, zymurgy, vade mecum, quotidian, sesquipedalian, eremite, sphragis, privation, aegis, sui generis and 275 more...
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Nigella Bites
words from the cookbook "Nigella Bites" by Nigella Lawson
intend, evangelical, present, nattering space, inevitably, consequently, techniques, liqueur, purist, frankly, constraints, jot and 256 more...
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encyclopedia gustatorica
béchamel, tart, pie, cupcake, roux, jambalaya, étouffé, succulent, plum, pomegranate, peach, apple and 300 more...
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Culinary Arts
zest, baste, al dente, broil, par-boil, cream, garnish, butterfly, brown, bake, trim, clarify and 15 more...
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Food!
Tweets
Looking for tweets for al dente.

yarb Literally a moment ago I said to Mrs Yarb "do you think there's ever been anyone called Al Dente?" After a brief silence I fired up wordie and lo!
Nov 28, 2008
bilby Unfortunately did not survive his encounter with cannibals, as described in Schwarzer et al. Nov 28, 2008
sionnach famous pasta-loving Italian dentist. Nov 28, 2008