Meaning & use
Malaga
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Meanings
noununcountable
A sweet, strong wine made in the area around the Spanish city of Málaga, often served after a meal.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: a glass of malaga; a countable use means a type or bottle.
Patterns
- a glass of malaga
- malaga wine
My grandfather always finished dinner with a small glass of malaga.
The cake was soaked in malaga and left to rest for a week.
A good malaga tastes of raisins and toasted nuts.
nouncountable
A large, sweet, pale grape grown in Spain, eaten fresh or dried as raisins.
Grammar: Countable: a bowl of malagas; also used before another noun, as in malaga grapes.
Patterns
- malaga grapes
- a bunch of malagas
We bought a bunch of malagas from the market stall.
Malaga grapes are firm and very sugary.
She packed dried malagas for the long walk.
proper nounproper
A port city on the southern coast of Spain, known for beaches, tourism and its airport.
Grammar: Always capitalized; no article: fly to Malaga.
Patterns
- fly to Malaga
- in Malaga
Our flight to Malaga leaves early on Friday.
Picasso was born in Malaga.
Many British families holiday near Malaga every summer.
Word forms
| plural | malagas |
|---|
Common combinations
- a glass of malaga
- He poured her a glass of malaga after the meal.
- sweet malaga
- Sweet malaga goes well with blue cheese.
- malaga raisins
- The pudding was full of malaga raisins.
- fly to Malaga
- We plan to fly to Malaga in May.
- malaga cake
- The bakery sells a rich malaga cake at Christmas.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sherry
- Sherry is another fortified Spanish wine, but it comes from a different region and is usually drier than malaga.
- port
- Port is a fortified wine from Portugal, so it is the Portuguese counterpart rather than a true equivalent of malaga.
- dessert wine
- Dessert wine is a general category, while malaga names one specific kind from a particular place.
Word family
- Malagueño noun
- a person from Malaga
- Malagan adjective
- relating to the city of Malaga
Commonly confused: Malaga or Majorca?
Malaga vs Majorca
Majorca is a Spanish island, not a city on the mainland, and it is not the source of malaga wine.
Practice
Which sentence uses malaga to mean a drink?
Choose one answer.
Malaga as a drink is a sweet wine, so sipping a glass of it makes sense. The other options use it as a city or as an unlikely food.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Malaga”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.