dish

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   A shallow container, usually round, used for serving or eating food.

   Grammar: Countable: one dish, two dishes. Often used in compounds like a serving dish or a baking dish.

   Patterns

   • a dish of something
   • in a dish
   • on a dish

   She put the potatoes in a large dish and carried them to the table.

   Please pass me a clean dish for the salad.

   The cat drank from a small dish on the floor.

2. 2nouncountable

   A particular type of food that has been prepared in a certain way.

   Grammar: Countable: a dish, several dishes. Often used with nationality or main ingredient: an Italian dish.

   Patterns

   • a local dish
   • a main dish
   • a dish made with something

   Paella is a traditional Spanish dish made with rice and seafood.

   This restaurant serves many vegetarian dishes.

   The main dish was chicken with herbs.

3. 3nounplural

   All the plates, bowls, and utensils that need washing after a meal.

   Grammar: Usually plural in this sense: do the dishes, wash the dishes.

   Patterns

   • do the dishes
   • wash the dishes
   • dry the dishes

   It's your turn to do the dishes tonight.

   He washed the dishes while she put the food away.

   There were a lot of dishes after the party.

4. 4nouncountabletechnical

   A piece of equipment that receives or sends signals, especially for television.

   Grammar: Countable: a satellite dish, a radar dish. Often used in compounds.

   Patterns

   • a satellite dish
   • a radar dish

   They installed a satellite dish on the roof to get more channels.

   The radar dish rotated slowly, scanning the sky.

5. 5verbtransitive

   To put food onto plates or bowls for serving.

   Grammar: Takes an object: dish the rice. Often used with out or up: dish out the soup.

   Patterns

   • dish something out
   • dish something up
   • dish out something

   She dished out the stew into four bowls.

   He dished up generous portions of pasta for everyone.

Word forms

Common combinations

do the dishes

I'll cook if you do the dishes.

main dish

For the main dish, we had roast lamb.

side dish

A simple green salad makes a good side dish.

dish out

The teacher dished out praise to the whole class.

dish the dirt

The magazine loves to dish the dirt on celebrities.

satellite dish

The storm damaged our satellite dish.

Synonyms and how they differ

plate

A flat, usually round object for eating from; a dish is deeper and often used for serving.

bowl

A deeper container, often for soup or cereal; a dish is shallower and more for serving.

meal

Refers to the occasion of eating or the food eaten; a dish is a specific prepared food.

Word family

dishful noun

The amount that a dish can hold.

dishy adjective

Informal, mainly British: attractive (usually of a person).

Commonly confused: dish or disk?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “dish”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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