Meaning & use
canasta
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Meanings
noununcountable
A card game for two to six players in which players collect and lay down sets of cards of the same value.
Grammar: Uncountable as a game: we played canasta.
Patterns
- play canasta
My grandparents played canasta every Sunday afternoon.
She taught us canasta on a rainy day.
We need two decks of cards to play canasta.
nouncountablespecialist
A set of seven or more cards of the same rank, laid down together to score bonus points in the game.
Grammar: Countable: make a canasta, two canastas.
Patterns
- make a canasta
- complete a canasta
He made a canasta of sevens and shouted with delight.
A natural canasta scores more points than a mixed one.
She needed one more card to complete her canasta.
Word forms
| plural | canastas |
|---|
Common combinations
- play canasta
- They play canasta after dinner.
- make a canasta
- You make a canasta when you have seven cards.
- canasta tournament
- The club held a canasta tournament in the spring.
- natural canasta
- A natural canasta has no wild cards.
- game of canasta
- We had a long game of canasta.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- meld noun
- a set of cards laid down together
- rummy noun
- the family of games canasta belongs to
Commonly confused: canasta or canister?
canasta vs canister
A container for storing things, which sounds similar but has nothing to do with the card game.
Practice
In canasta, a 'canasta' is a set of ___.
Choose one answer.
A canasta needs at least seven cards of the same rank. Three cards make an ordinary meld but not a canasta.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “canasta”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.