Meaning & use
compote dish
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Meanings
nouncountable
A shallow stemmed bowl, often of glass or silver, used for serving stewed or preserved fruit.
Grammar: Countable: one compote dish, two compote dishes.
Patterns
- a compote dish of something
- serve something in a compote dish
She spooned the poached pears into a glass compote dish.
The compote dish was part of her grandmother's silver set.
On the table stood a compote dish filled with stewed plums.
nouncountable or uncountablerare
The fruit dessert itself, especially fruit cooked in syrup and served in such a bowl.
Grammar: Can be countable (a compote dish for each guest) or uncountable (a bowl of compote dish) though the dessert alone is usually just 'compote'.
Patterns
- a compote dish of cherries
The menu listed a compote dish of apricots and vanilla.
He finished the compote dish before the main course arrived.
Word forms
| plural | compote dishes |
|---|
Common combinations
- a glass compote dish
- The pears looked elegant in a glass compote dish.
- a silver compote dish
- A silver compote dish gleamed at the center of the table.
- fill a compote dish
- She filled the compote dish with stewed apples.
- a compote dish of fruit
- They brought out a compote dish of fruit and cream.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fruit bowl
- A fruit bowl is a plain bowl for fresh fruit, while a compote dish is a decorative stemmed bowl for cooked or preserved fruit.
- dessert bowl
- Dessert bowl is the general everyday term; compote dish is the more formal, old-fashioned tableware word.
Word family
- compote noun
- The stewed fruit dessert served in this dish.
Commonly confused: compote dish or compost? compote dish or compute?
compote dish vs compost
Compost is decayed plant material used in gardening; compote is cooked fruit, and a compote dish holds it.
compote dish vs compute
Compute means to calculate; it sounds similar but has nothing to do with tableware.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'compote dish' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A compote dish is a shallow stemmed bowl for stewed or preserved fruit, so serving stewed peaches in one fits. Option A confuses it with 'compost', a gardening term, and option C misuses it as a verb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “compote dish”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.