Meaning & use
culinary
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Connected with cooking, kitchens, or the preparation of food.
Grammar: Almost always before a noun: culinary school.
Patterns
- culinary arts
She studied at a culinary school in Paris.
His culinary skills impressed the guests.
The festival celebrates the city's culinary traditions.
adjectivebefore a nountechnical
Suitable for use in cooking, as in a culinary herb.
Grammar: Used to separate cooking uses from medicinal ones.
Patterns
- culinary use
Lavender has both culinary and decorative uses.
Culinary herbs grow on the windowsill.
The oil is for culinary use only.
Common combinations
- culinary arts
- He earned a diploma in culinary arts.
- culinary school
- Many chefs attend culinary school.
- culinary skills
- Her culinary skills improved quickly.
- culinary tradition
- Italy has a rich culinary tradition.
- culinary delight
- The soup was a culinary delight.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- culinarily adverb
- in terms of cooking
- cuisine noun
- a style of cooking
- cook verb
- to prepare food with heat
- culinarian noun
- a person skilled in cooking
Commonly confused: culinary or culinary? culinary or medicinal?
culinary vs culinary
Culinary is sometimes misspelled as cullinary; it has one l after the u.
culinary vs medicinal
Medicinal means used as medicine, the opposite use of a culinary herb.
Practice
After a year at ____ school, she opened her own bakery.
Choose one answer.
Culinary school teaches cooking, which leads to a bakery. The other school types do not teach food preparation.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “culinary”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.