delicatessen

plural noun del·i·ca·tes·sen \ ˌde-li-kə-ˈte-sᵊn \

|Updated on: 10 Jun 2018

Definition of delicatessen

1 : ready-to-eat food products (such as cooked meats and prepared salads)

2 singular, plural delicatessens

[delicatessen (store)]

: a store where delicatessen are sold

Recent Examples of delicatessen from the Web

On the other hand, there’s a stretch in Venice on Third Avenue between Rose and Sunset where a Bird rider en route to Gjusta, a fancy bakery and delicatessen, had better ride down the very crown of the street.

— conor friedersdorf, The Atlantic, "Fly On, My Sleek Electric Bird," 30 May 2018
His creamy, deliciously reductive paintings of cakes, ice cream cones, gumball machines and trays of delicatessen food are beyond the negative reach of most critics.

— peter plagens, WSJ, "‘Wayne Thiebaud, Draftsman’ Review: Whipping Up Sincere Confections," 23 May 2018
Liz Johnson, the chef at the new Echo Park delicatessen Freedman's, has put in time at Noma, the Michelin two-starred L'Effervescence in Tokyo, and the tiny New York brasserie Mimi.

— jonathan gold, latimes.com, "Jonathan Gold beholds the brisket spectacle at Freedman's, a Jewish-ish deli in Echo Park," 18 May 2018
On the merchandise and physical store side, during the quarter, Walmart expanded its delicatessen offering and changed the layout in its bakery.

— phil wahba, Fortune, "Walmart U.S. Sales Beat Forecasts as E-Commerce Sales Get Back on Track," 17 May 2018
Police caught up with him and spoke to him at a local delicatessen.

— jeff piorkowski/special to cleveland.com, cleveland.com, "Drunk driver blames two imaginary gunmen for making him drive into house: Cleveland Heights police blotter," 28 Apr. 2018
In 1939, a two-bedroom apartment rented for $47.50 a month, while down below, Abe Hofberg operated a Jewish delicatessen.

— john kelly, Washington Post, "The story of Jackie Lee’s, once one of the hottest nightclubs in Washington," 21 Apr. 2018
On Friday, Sergei Skripal went to a small delicatessen, exchanged pleasantries with the owner and, just like every other week, bought Eastern European specialties that reminded him of home.

— wiktor szary, WSJ, "The Quiet English Life of Sergei Skripal, Poisoned Former Russian Spy," 11 Mar. 2018
There's that famous delicatessen scene in When Harry Met Sally when Ryan gets really excited about ... dinner.

— Newsweek, "Amazing Photos of Bioluminescent Phytoplankton," 14 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'delicatessen.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of delicatessen

obsolete German (now Delikatessen), plural of Delicatesse delicacy, from French délicatesse, probably from Old Italian delicatezza, from delicato delicate, from Latin delicatus

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1885

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year