Meaning & use
maraschino cherry
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A sweet cherry that has been kept in a special syrup, often used to decorate cocktails and desserts.
Grammar: Countable: one maraschino cherry, two maraschino cherries.
Patterns
- a maraschino cherry
- maraschino cherries
- a jar of maraschino cherries
She put a bright red maraschino cherry on top of each cupcake.
The bartender dropped a maraschino cherry into my glass of cola.
I don't like the taste of maraschino cherries; they are too sweet for me.
Word forms
| plural | maraschino cherries |
|---|
Common combinations
- a maraschino cherry on top
- The ice cream came with a maraschino cherry on top.
- a jar of maraschino cherries
- We keep a jar of maraschino cherries in the fridge for cocktails.
- a maraschino cherry garnish
- The drink was served with a maraschino cherry garnish.
- bright red maraschino cherries
- The cake was decorated with bright red maraschino cherries.
Synonyms and how they differ
- glacé cherry
- A glacé cherry is preserved in sugar syrup too, but it is usually larger and not dyed bright red; maraschino cherries are the small, neon-red ones used in cocktails.
- cocktail cherry
- Cocktail cherry is a looser, everyday term for the same thing, but it can refer to other kinds of cherries used in drinks.
Word family
- cherry noun
- The small, round fruit that maraschino cherries are made from.
Commonly confused: maraschino cherry or maraschino?
maraschino cherry vs maraschino
Maraschino is the sweet liqueur originally used to preserve the cherries; the cherry itself is a maraschino cherry.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'maraschino cherry' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A maraschino cherry is a sweet preserved cherry used as a garnish, so 'decorated with' fits. The other options describe fresh fruit, planting, or buying meat, which do not match the meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “maraschino cherry”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.