Meaning & use
maraschino
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
A sweet, clear Italian liqueur made from a type of sour cherry.
Grammar: Used without an or an and without a plural: a bottle of maraschino, not 'a maraschino'.
Patterns
- a bottle of maraschino
- maraschino liqueur
- cook with maraschino
She added a spoonful of maraschino to the cake batter for a faint cherry flavor.
The bartender poured a little maraschino into the glass and stirred it gently.
You can usually find maraschino in the same aisle as the other dessert liqueurs.
nouncountable
A cherry preserved in a sweet syrup, often bright red, used to decorate drinks and desserts.
Grammar: Countable here: one maraschino, two maraschinos. In everyday speech people usually say 'maraschino cherry'.
Patterns
- a maraschino cherry
- top something with a maraschino
- a jar of maraschinos
He dropped a maraschino into each glass of lemonade.
The sundae came with whipped cream and a single maraschino on top.
My grandmother kept a jar of maraschinos in the fridge for special occasions.
Word forms
| plural (sense 2) | maraschinos |
|---|
Common combinations
- maraschino cherry
- The cocktail is traditionally finished with a maraschino cherry.
- a dash of maraschino
- A dash of maraschino gives the sauce a lovely almond-cherry note.
- maraschino liqueur
- The recipe calls for maraschino liqueur, but cherry brandy works too.
- a jar of maraschinos
- We bought a jar of maraschinos for the birthday cake.
- soak something in maraschino
- The sponge was soaked in maraschino before the cream was added.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cherry brandy
- A similar cherry-flavored drink, but it is made with brandy rather than cherry distillate, so it tastes stronger.
- kirsch
- Also a clear cherry spirit, but it is dry and unsweetened, so it cannot replace maraschino in sweet recipes.
- glacé cherry
- A candied cherry used in baking; it is chewy and sugary rather than preserved in syrup like a maraschino.
Word family
- maraschino cherry noun
- The preserved cherry used as a garnish.
Commonly confused: maraschino or maraschino / mascarpone?
maraschino vs maraschino / mascarpone
These look and sound somewhat alike, but mascarpone is a soft Italian cheese used in desserts such as tiramisu.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'maraschino' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Maraschino cherry' is the standard phrase for the preserved cherry used as a garnish. The first option treats it as a countable container like 'bottle', the third invents a verb, and the fourth uses a plural form where the liqueur sense is uncountable.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “maraschino”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.