potluck

Meanings

1. 1nouncountableAmerican

   A casual meal where each guest brings a dish to share.

   Grammar: Often used before another noun: a potluck dinner.

   Patterns

   • a potluck dinner
   • a potluck at somewhere

   Our neighbors hold a potluck on the first Sunday of every month.

   She brought a big salad to the office potluck.

   The church potluck had nine kinds of pie.

2. 2noununcountable

   Whatever happens to be available, taken without choosing or knowing in advance.

   Grammar: Used in the idiom take potluck: no article, as in 'we took potluck'.

   Patterns

   • take potluck

   We had no booking, so we took potluck at the first restaurant we saw.

   Arrive late and you'll just have to take potluck with the leftovers.

   When you buy a mystery box, you take potluck on what's inside.

Word forms

Common combinations

potluck dinner

We're having a potluck dinner on Friday.

potluck supper

The club held a potluck supper in the hall.

take potluck

You'll have to take potluck on the room.

office potluck

The office potluck included five kinds of dumplings.

bring a dish to a potluck

Please bring a dish to the potluck.

holiday potluck

The holiday potluck was a great success.

Synonyms and how they differ

covered-dish supper

Covered-dish supper is a regional, old-fashioned name for the same shared meal.

pitch-in

Pitch-in is a regional American word for a shared meal that is rarely heard elsewhere.

bring-and-share

Bring-and-share is the usual British phrase for a lunch or party where everyone brings food.

Word family

pot noun

a round cooking vessel

luck noun

chance

potluck dinner noun

a meal where everyone brings a dish

Commonly confused: potluck or potlatch? potluck or buffet?

Practice

Make it your own

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

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