Meaning & use
tomme
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountablespecialist
A round cheese made in the French Alps and Savoy region, usually from cow's or goat's milk.
Grammar: Countable when you mean one whole cheese; uncountable when you mean the food in general.
Patterns
- a tomme de Savoie
- tomme cheese
We bought a small tomme at the market in Annecy.
This tomme has a nutty flavor and a thick gray rind.
The recipe calls for grated tomme, but Gruyère works too.
nouncountable or uncountablespecialist
A soft, fresh curd cheese eaten in parts of France and Italy.
Grammar: Often used with a place name, as in tomme fraîche.
Patterns
- fresh tomme
- tomme fraîche
Fresh tomme is spread on bread with honey.
They served a young tomme with salad.
Word forms
| plural | tommies |
|---|
Common combinations
- tomme de Savoie
- Tomme de Savoie is one of the best-known Alpine cheeses.
- aged tomme
- An aged tomme becomes firmer and sharper.
- grated tomme
- Grated tomme melts smoothly into the soup.
- a wheel of tomme
- He carried a whole wheel of tomme back from the farm.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cheese
- The general word; tomme is a specific kind of cheese, so cheese is too broad when you mean this type.
Commonly confused: tomme or Tom?
tomme vs Tom
Tom is a man's name and sounds similar in some accents, but it has nothing to do with the cheese.
Practice
Which sentence uses "tomme" correctly?
Choose one answer.
Tomme is a noun for a type of cheese, so it fits as the thing being spread. The other options wrongly treat it as a verb or a person.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “tomme”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.