sweet potato

noun

1

: a tropical vine (Ipomoea batatas) of the morning-glory family that is often grown for its edible tuberous root or for its ornamental variously shaped green to purple leaves and usually white to pinkish funnel-shaped flowers with pink to purple centers

also : the large thick sweet and nutritious tuberous root of the sweet potato that has beige, yellow, orange, red, or purple flesh and is cooked and eaten as a vegetable compare yam sense 2

2

: ocarina

Examples of sweet potato in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Viar recommends avocado, nuts, and seeds; eating protein such as eggs, chicken, tofu, or fish at every meal; including slow-absorption carbohydrates such as potato, sweet potato, rice, and oatmeal; and drinking calming infusions such as chamomile or lemon balm. —Mónica Heras, Vogue, 30 Dec. 2025

While Turkish pasta and ditalini pasta both made it into the top 10, the hot honey cottage cheese sweet potato beef bowl topped the list in the number one spot. —Sabrina Weiss, PEOPLE, 30 Dec. 2025

The dish is served with Japanese sweet potato, tatsoi, broccolini, heirloom carrots and a sweet soy demi. —Regina Elling, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Dec. 2025

It’s served alongside a slab of cold sweet potato and garnished with hefty kernels of the dent corn called choclo. —Sean Timberlake, Sacbee.com, 26 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1750, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for sweet potato

• adagio
• altiplano
• arapaho
• arapahoe
• manifesto
• medicago
• minangkabau
• oregano
• ostinato
• pistachio
• politico
• portfolio

Kids Definition

sweet potato

noun

1

: a tropical vine related to the morning glories and having variously shaped leaves and purplish flowers

also : its large sweet starchy root that is cooked and eaten as a vegetable

2

: ocarina