Meaning & use
oven
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
An enclosed appliance or compartment used for baking, roasting, or heating food.
Grammar: Countable noun; can be used with 'a' or 'the' and has a plural 'ovens'.
Patterns
- in the oven
- preheat the oven
- put something in the oven
- bake something in the oven
She put the cake in the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180°C before baking.
The kitchen smelled wonderful with bread baking in the oven.
Word forms
| plural | ovens |
|---|
Common combinations
- preheat the oven
- Always preheat the oven before baking cookies.
- in the oven
- The pizza is in the oven, so it will be ready soon.
- oven door
- He opened the oven door to check on the roast.
- microwave oven
- A microwave oven cooks food much faster than a conventional one.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- ovenproof adjective
- Safe to use in an oven without damage, as in 'an ovenproof dish'.
- ovenware noun
- Dishes and containers designed for use in an oven.
Commonly confused: oven or stove?
oven vs stove
A stove is the whole appliance with burners on top and often an oven below; 'oven' is just the enclosed part for baking.
Practice
What do you typically do before putting food in the oven?
Choose one answer.
Preheating the oven to the right temperature is a standard step before baking. Turning it off or filling it with water would not help cook the food.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “oven”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.