smorgasbord
noun
Did you know?
Although smorgasbord might make us think of a variety of foods, the Swedish word smörgås refers to a particular food item—an open sandwich or, alternatively, a slice of bread covered with butter—which is a staple of the traditional Swedish smorgasbord. (The word smör means "butter," and gås can mean "a lump of butter" as well as "goose.") Smörgås teamed up with the Swedish word bord, meaning "table" or "board," to form smorgasbord; the word first appeared in English in the later part of the 19th century. By the mid-20th century smorgasbord was being used outside of food-related contexts to refer to something that comprises a mixture or assemblage of different parts.
Examples of smorgasbord in a Sentence
Kate McGregor, Architectural Digest, 5 Nov. 2025
While Hallmark serves us a smorgasbord of festive films every year, there are a few each Countdown to Christmas season that give that nostalgic, golden age, timeless feeling and this is one of them.
—Rebecca Angel Baer, Southern Living, 2 Nov. 2025
Andrzej Sapkowski’s first two Witcher books, both short story collections, are marvelously varied in tone and content, presenting a smorgasbord of standalone Geralt adventures that alternate between the comic and tragic.
—Scott Meslow, Vulture, 30 Oct. 2025
Now, there’s a veritable smorgasbord (to use a geographically appropriate term) of options to choose from, no matter what your taste or needs.
—Dean Stattmann, Outside, 19 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for smorgasbord
Cite this Entry
“Smorgasbord.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/smorgasbord. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.
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smorgasbord
noun
from Swedish smörgåsbord "a buffet meal," from smörgås "open sandwich" and bord "table"
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