Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Having a sharp pungent taste; sour. See Synonyms at sour.
- adj. Sharp or bitter in tone or meaning; cutting.
- n. A pastry shell with shallow sides, no top crust, and any of various fillings.
- n. Chiefly British A pie.
- n. A prostitute.
- n. A woman considered to be sexually promiscuous.
- v. Chiefly British To dress up or make fancy in a tawdry, garish way. Often used with up.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Sharp to the taste; acidulous: as, a tart apple.
- Figuratively, sharp; keen; severe; cutting; biting: as, a tart reply; tart language; a tart rebuke.
- Synonyms Sour, caustic. See tartness.
- To make acid or piquant.
- n. A pie or piece of pastry, consisting generally of fruit baked in paste. Compare pie.
Wiktionary
- adj. Sharp to the taste; acid; sour.
- adj. Of wine: high or too high in acidity.
- adj. figuratively Sharp; keen; severe.
- n. A type of small open pie, or piece of pastry, containing jelly or conserve; a sort of fruit pie.
- n. UK (slang) A prostitute.
- n. UK (slang, derogatory) By extension, any woman with loose sexual morals.
- v. To practice prostitution
- v. To practice promiscuous sex
- v. To dress garishly or ostentatiously
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Sharp to the taste; acid; sour.
- adj. Fig.: Sharp; keen; severe.
- n. A species of small open pie, or piece of pastry, containing jelly or conserve; a sort of fruit pie.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money
- n. a pastry cup with a filling of fruit or custard and no top crust
- adj. tasting sour like a lemon
- n. a small open pie with a fruit filling
- adj. harsh.
Etymologies
- From sweetheart or jam tart ("attractive woman") by shortening (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old English teart, severe Middle English tarte, from Old French, perhaps alteration of tartane, from Late Latin torta, a kind of bread. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The word tart comes from the Latin word _tortus_, because tarts were originally in twisted shapes, and every country seems to have adopted them into their national menus.”
“The filling for the tart is a fairly standard brownie recipe, and the same can be said for the crust, and they come together quite easily.”
“This tart is a great way to kick off your return to blogalnd!”
“If I make this again, I will use a loose-bottomed tart pan, rather than the pyrex pie pan, because the tart is a thin one - and a good thing too, as it is very sweet.”
“Yes, being a tart is a full time occupation," retorted Sharon to the retreating form.”
“Star Magazine snitches claim Rihanna allowed her allegedly abusive boyfriend Chris Brown to record several of their “intimate encounters” (Hint, Hint) and the pop tart is now petrified that the racy footage of Chris Breezy “running it” in her no-no holes will soon be exposed.”
“My favorite thing about this type of tart is that you can use just about any kind of fruit in it - berries, apples, plums, nectarines, pears, grapes, etc.”
“The tart is garnished with a generous sprinkle of chopped pistachios, which add crunch and a nice splash of green to the ruby red base beneath them.”
“The tart is filled with a simple mixture of mozzarella, tomatoes and olive oil.”
“Bacon aside, the tart is made with fresh, roasted tomatoes and sweet, roasted onions.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tart’.
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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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CULI - wine-tasting adjectives
In this area of expertise nouns are frequently used as adjectives (almond, bacon, cider, diesel, fennel, fresh-cut hay, wool) or new adjectives are formed (appley, berrylike, citrusy, full-bodied, ...
acetic, acidic, aged, angular, appley, astringent, attractive, austere, berrylike, big, bitter, brawny and 511 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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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 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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On with their heads!
Words that make other words with the addition of one letter at the beginning. The resulting words are tagged "behead".
men, his, yes, any, iota, limb, aged, laid, land, lead, read, word and 327 more...
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Let Them Eat Cake...
Tasty confectionery trinkets for the listless masses.
petit four, bon bon, scone, crumpet, meringue, cupcake, beignet, tart, tiramisu, ladyfingers, fritter, crepe and 44 more...
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Tar
I'll accept any words or phrases with "tar" in them, but I'm especially interested in words that could lead to a joke based on the different meanings of tar and pitch.
tar, guitar, sitar, dutar, dotara, tar and feather, coal tar, tarred with the s..., wood-tar, jacktar, La Brea Tar Pits, Carpinteria Tar Pits and 26 more...
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Funny Words
gerbil, spleen, regurgitate, crevis, retro, orangutan, jiggly, ear, tart, pickle, fizzle, kapow and 4 more...
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Serendipity's Words
defenestration, mercurial, syzygy, wicked, iniquitous, metastable, demimonde, entropic, ephemeral, irreligious, frisbee, manifold and 474 more...
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GCI
spinster, maiden, happy-go-lucky, homonym, ill-at-ease, saw red, out of sorts, hot under the collar, taken aback, pen-names, alias, shoelaces and 378 more...
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RocknRolla (2008)
Words from 2008 'RocknRolla' film.
drip, consent, foothold, bricks and mortar, mortar, councillor, let down, wand, clean out, leg-up, hasty, erect and 115 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (T)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
tabard, tadpole, taffeta, taffy, talisman, tallgrass, tam, tamarind, tamarack, tambourine, tango, tansy and 144 more...
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jagosaurus's favorites
Words I like mostly because of the way they sound and feel.
ticonderoga, petulance, snark, estimable, chickahominy, feline, gezellig, gneiss, shit, willy-nilly, shelter, coda and 366 more...
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katiad's Words
exquisite, obnoxious, noxious, extravaganza, whirlwind, whirling, wild, spinster, existential, chaos, zephyr, blasphemy and 310 more...
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cutting words
sarcasm, sarx, sarcoptic, syssarcosis, shrew, shrewd, screed, scred, shroud, scroll, scrod, scrutiny and 326 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for tart.

michaelt42 Rhyming slang for heart is jam tart - remember the Queen of Hearts whose baked goods were purloined by the Jack (or was it the Knave?). The phrase is often used by bridge players when referring to the Hearts suit. Dec 7, 2011
michaelt42 When I was attending a boys' secondary school near Birmingham, UK, in the 1950s tart was used unselfconsiously as equivalent to girlfriend or a girl one just took out. Maybe in this usage tart = sweetheart, somewhat counter to the identification with a sex worker of the appropriate gender. Dec 7, 2011
vanishedone Yes, WeirdNet, that too. Sep 8, 2009
irish I use this word with a different meaning. Taken from Gaelic, tart means "thirst". In English I have used this word as a slang adjective to describe one being thirsty, specifically for some type of alcoholic beverage.
Bostonians, with their Irish heritage may often use this word:
"Man, I am wicked tart tonight." only best spoken with a Boston accent so it sounds more like tat.
Chicagoans, with their Irish heritage may also use the words only with their unique accent that may sound more like tert.
Jun 9, 2009
johnmperry person (male or female) of low morals Jul 23, 2008
johnmperry A tart doesn't have a pastry top - that's a pie. Jun 18, 2008