Meaning & use
dirty cocktail
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Meanings
nouncountable
An alcoholic mixed drink, usually a martini, made with a small amount of olive brine so it looks cloudy and tastes salty.
Grammar: Countable, so you can say 'a dirty cocktail' or 'two dirty cocktails'.
Patterns
- order a dirty cocktail
- a dirty cocktail with extra brine
- serve something as a dirty cocktail
She ordered a dirty cocktail at the hotel bar and sipped it slowly.
A dirty cocktail gets its cloudy look and salty taste from olive brine.
The bartender asked if I wanted my martini dirty, so I nodded and he made me a dirty cocktail.
nouncountableinformal
Any cocktail that is made stronger or given a salty, savory twist by adding brine or a similar ingredient.
Grammar: Countable and often used with a modifier, as in 'a dirty vodka cocktail'.
Patterns
- a dirty cocktail of something
- make a dirty cocktail
The menu listed a dirty cocktail made with gin, vermouth, and pickle juice.
Some bars serve a dirty cocktail with a splash of soy sauce for a savory kick.
Word forms
| plural | dirty cocktails |
|---|
Common combinations
- a dirty martini
- He prefers a dirty martini to a plain one.
- extra dirty
- She likes her cocktail extra dirty, with plenty of brine.
- olive brine
- Olive brine is what makes a dirty cocktail cloudy.
- a splash of brine
- Add a splash of brine to turn the drink into a dirty cocktail.
- order a drink dirty
- You can order any vodka drink dirty if you enjoy a salty flavor.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dirty martini
- This is the most common specific type of dirty cocktail; use it when the base spirit is gin or vodka with vermouth.
- savory cocktail
- A broader term for drinks with salty or herbal flavors; it does not always contain brine.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: dirty cocktail or mocktail?
dirty cocktail vs mocktail
A mocktail contains no alcohol, while a dirty cocktail normally does.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'dirty cocktail' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A dirty cocktail is a mixed alcoholic drink made cloudy with brine, so option 2 fits. Option 3 contradicts the meaning, option 1 describes a non-alcoholic mixture, and option 4 uses the word as if it were food.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “dirty cocktail”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.