al dente

al den·te

A a

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [al den-tey, -tee; Italian ahl den-te]
- /æl ˈdɛn teɪ, -ti; Italian ɑl ˈdɛn tɛ/
- /æl ˈdent/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [al den-tey, -tee; Italian ahl den-te]
- /æl ˈdɛn teɪ, -ti; Italian ɑl ˈdɛn tɛ/

Definitions of al dente words

adjective al dente If you cook pasta or a vegetable until it is al dente, you cook it just long enough so that it is neither hard nor soft but is firm and slightly chewy. 3
adjective al dente (of a pasta dish) cooked so as to be firm when eaten 3
noun al dente cooked until firm to the bite; chewy 3
adjective al dente pasta: cooked until just firm 1
adjective al dente (of pasta) firm to the bite (used of pasta which is cooked just right). 0

See all 5 definitions of al dente

Information block about the term

Origin of al dente

First appearance:

before 1945

One of the 6% newest English words

1945-50; Italian: literally, to the tooth

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Al dente

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Al dente

al dente popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 47% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

According to our data about 55% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.

al dente usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for al dente

adj al dente

firm — not soft or yielding when pressed; comparatively solid, hard, stiff, or rigid: firm ground; firm texture.
medium — a middle state or condition; mean.

All 2 Synonyms of al dente