Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Appetizing to the taste or smell: a savory stew.
- adj. Piquant, pungent, or salty to the taste; not sweet.
- adj. Morally respectable; inoffensive: a past that was scarcely savory.
- n. A dish of pungent taste, such as anchovies on toast or pickled fruit, sometimes served in Great Britain as an hors d'oeuvre or instead of a sweet dessert.
- n. An annual Mediterranean aromatic herb (Satureja hortensis) of the mint family, having flowers with a pale lavender to white corolla. Also called summer savory.
- n. A related Mediterranean aromatic herb (Satureja montana) having flowers in a long, white or pink corolla. Also called winter savory.
- n. The leaves of either of these plants, used as seasoning.
- n. Any of several plants of the genus Micromeria in the mint family.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Having a flavor.
- Having savor or relish; pleasing to the organs of taste or smell (especially the former); appetizing; palatable; hence, agreeable in general: as, savory dishes; a savory odor.
- Morally pleasing; morally or religiously edifying.
- In good repute; honored; respected.
- n. A plant of the genus Satureia, chiefly S. hortensis, the summer savory, and S. montana, the winter savory, both natives of southern Europe. They are low, homely, aromatic herbs, cultivated in gardens for seasoning in cookery. S. Thymbra of the Mediterranean region is a small evergreen bush, with nearly the flavor of thyme.
- n. In cookery, a small, highly seasoned entrée, such as a cheese fondant, a tiny salt herring with red pepper, on toast, or deviled eggs: served at the end of a dinner.
Wiktionary
- adj. Tasty, attractive to the palate.
- adj. Salty or non-sweet.
- adj. Not overly sweet.
- adj. figuratively Morally or ethically acceptable.
- n. A savory snack
- n. Any of several Mediterranean herbs, of the genus Satureja, grown as culinary flavourings
- n. The leaves of these plants used as a flavouring
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Pleasing to the organs of taste or smell.
- n. (Bot.) An aromatic labiate plant (Satureia hortensis), much used in cooking; -- also called
summer savory .
WordNet 3.0
- adj. morally wholesome or acceptable
- n. any of several aromatic herbs or subshrubs of the genus Satureja having spikes of flowers attractive to bees
- n. dwarf aromatic shrub of Mediterranean regions
- adj. pleasing to the sense of taste
- n. an aromatic or spicy dish served at the end of dinner or as an hors d'oeuvre
- n. either of two aromatic herbs of the mint family
- adj. having an agreeably pungent taste
Etymologies
- From the Old French savoure, from savourer, from Latin saporare, from sapor (Wiktionary)
- Middle English savure, from Old French savoure, past participle of savourer, to taste, from Late Latin sapōrāre, from Latin sapor, flavor; see savor.Middle English saverey, alteration of Old French sarree, alteration of Latin saturēia. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The sweet paired with the savory is what made it so good!”
“The pasta sounds really delicious (I love corn in savory applications) – I love me some ham but I think bacon is even better”
“And Moroccan is bad if you hate that particular combination of spices they use plus fruit in savory food.”
PROFILE: Downtown Lunch’er “Yvo” | Midtown Lunch: Downtown NYC
“Typically simple but savory is the pan-seared boneless chicken breast with lemon and chive sauce: It can be quickly prepared, sauce and all, in a single skillet.”
“Already dismembered, from the cracked legs the white meat sent forth a small looked down in savory steam.”
“Pie aside, this rich-tasting crust also has a lot of possibilities for other applications in savory pies and quiches.”
“The almond is found in savory dishes such as almond soup, almond mole and picadillo, and in desserts like almond flan, cookies, and even almond rompope, a traditional Christmas beverage.”
“My mind started racing with possibilities for using petimezi in savory foods.”
“I love the sweetness of dried fruit in savory meat dishes, and capers are an olive-phobe's friend, since they provide a similar briny touch in a much smaller package.”
Capers Are An Olive-Phobe's Friend: Veracruzan Picadillo de Pollo... and a Lemon Poppy Seed Bread
“One of my favorite things about apples is how great they taste in savory dishes, as well as sweet baked goods.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘savory’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Describing the Taste of Foods
yummy, zesty, piquant, pungent, sharp, spicy, poignant, delicious, ambrosial, appetizing, delectable, heavenly and 194 more...
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Aromata Aromatica
Fragrant things and terms that describe them. Generic names of botanical binomials aren't capitalized if the unconventional lower case form has a useful Wordnik definition. I'm primarily seeking te...
curry leaf, tuberose, orris, moss rose, smudge stick, lavender, frangipani, sweet acacia, sweet bay, tea rose, patchouli, linaloa and 162 more...
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food collection
bread, peel, pot, chorizo, Filet, olive, fill, Phyllo, dough, bake, mat, pinot and 988 more...
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Y
What a -Y does to an otherwise common, dull word
zany, waxy, wavy, arty, chewy, bony, boxy, cozy, nosy, foxy, wiry, junky and 321 more...
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Words to Describe The Taste of Food
This list seeks to address a pet annoyance of mine. It occurs when chefs, food critics and travel writers, usually on television, taste something that looks either delicious or unusual and then in...
unctuous, sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami, piquant, savory, tangy, luscious, delectable, brackish and 66 more...
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yummy
delectable words
literallydelectable, scrumptious, ambrosial, mouthwatering, piquant, juicy, luscious, heavenly, sapid, toothsome, succulent, savory and 10 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, S
scrunch, solace, sabotage, saccade, sacerdotal, sacrilegious, sacristy, snappy, skew, steadfast, scowl, scorch and 781 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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quality words
This is a mix of new words I've read studying for the GRE verbal and words I use normally. I also check back on these words if I don't use them often enough.
ineffable, septuagenarian, sesquipedalian, argyle, coalescence, profundity, vivisepulture, defenestrate, concatenate, usurp, diatribe, veracious and 461 more...
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Rubbies
Words and things that rub me wrong
eclectic, canon, flesh, irregardless, conversate, can't, mandatory, war on christmas, male bonding, pissa, parochial, infallible and 98 more...
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SAT Vocab
Redundant.
problematic, proclivity, prodigal, prodigious, prodigy, profane, profligate, profound, profusion, proliferation, prolific, prologue and 455 more...
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miltonic
liberty, froth-becurlèd, host, huge-bellied, aghast, rills, gladsom, wrathfull, ordain, thunder-clasping, ruddy, warble and 264 more...
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Sweet Smoke of Rhetoric
The ones with which I flavor my speech, and the ones I love to find peppered in literature.
perspicacious, acerbic, vituperation, loquacious, castigate, vitriolic, scintillating, provenance, frolic, attendant, pursuant, epistemology and 313 more...
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My List
A list of words that I have generated over time.
cairn, cacodaemoniacal, abash, abject, abjure, abstemious, abhor, abnegate, abnegation, abscond, abstruse, acclivity and 702 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for savory.

rolig In Slovene, šetraj. My boyfriend discovered this herb growing wild on the island of Brač. Jul 18, 2010