roasted; roasting; roasts
1
a
: to cook by exposing to dry heat (as in an oven or before a fire) or by surrounding with hot embers, sand, or stones
roast a potato in ashes
b
: to process a raw coffee bean by drying, heating to temperatures typically between 380-450° F (190-230° C) for seven to twenty minutes, and quickly cooling to room temperature to achieve a desired level of roast (see roast entry 2 sense 3)
… roasting coffee brings out flavor, aroma, and character; it also evaporates moisture.—
Lisa Kolb Ruland
Lisa Kolb Ruland2
: to heat to excess
roasted by the summer sun
3
: to subject to severe criticism or ridicule
The film was roasted by critics and isn't fondly remembered …—John Fox
John Fox4
: to honor (a person) at a roast (see roast entry 2 sense 5)
5
metallurgy
: to heat (inorganic material) in air and without fusing (as to oxidize sulfides or eliminate volatile matter)
Zinc is refined from its ore by roasting finely crushed zinc blende … in a furnace.—Daniel A. Brandt
Daniel A. Brandt1
: to cook food by heat
Once you've tossed the potatoes in your chosen fat, you're ready to roast.—Fionnula Hainey
Fionnula Hainey2
: to undergo the process of being roasted
left the potatoes in the oven to roast
—often used figurativelyWe roasted in the stuffy classroom.
plural roasts
2
: a gathering at which food is roasted before an open fire or in hot ashes or sand
was invited to a pig roast
3
: the distinctive quality or character of a coffee bean that typically includes its darkness, aroma, and flavor and is determined by the degree of roasting (see roast entry 1 sense 1b)
The difference in coffee roasts is in their levels of oil, caffeine, and acidity.—Clark Nowlin
see also dark roast, light roast, medium roast
Clark Nowlin4
: an act or instance of severe banter or criticism
… did not hold back in his roast of Washington politics …, saving jabs for both parties.—Kaanita Iyer
Kaanita Iyer5
: a banquet honoring a person who is subjected to humorous tongue-in-cheek ridicule by friends
Tennis ace Boris Becker wasn't on the dais at the North Miami celebrity roast of aging bad boy Ilie Nastase, so he could observe the rites with a certain detachment.—Tim Allis
Tim Allis
Synonyms
Examples of roast in a Sentence
Verb
The chicken is roasting in the oven.
We roasted the peanuts over the fire.
The peanuts roasted over the fire.
We were roasting in the hot sun.
The movie is being roasted by the critics.
Noun
She made a roast for dinner.
We're having pork roast for dinner.
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Recent Examples on the Weboregonlive, 14 Sep. 2023
Or breathe new life into past-their-prime veggies by roasting them with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper.
—Leslie Goldman, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 Sep. 2023
For a heart-healthy source of nitrates, beets can be added to smoothies or roasted along with other seasonal vegetables.
—Stephanie Brown, Verywell Health, 13 Sep. 2023
Fennel is crisp and slightly sweet and caramelizes beautifully when roasted in the oven.
—Emma Phelps, Southern Living, 9 Sep. 2023
Your air fryer can even function as a Thanksgiving helper: Use it to make side dishes while the oven roasts the main event.
—Mackenzie Chung Fegan, Bon Appétit, 8 Sep. 2023
Use kale in salads, quickly sautéed until just softened, cooked slowly with garlic and vegetable broth; use it in place of spinach in creamed spinach, or roast it for kale chips.
—Treehugger Editors, Treehugger, 7 Sep. 2023
The mesh design, when coupled with the rainfly and good staking, will stand up to storms and not roast you when camping in the midsummer heat.
—Scott Gilbertson, WIRED, 30 Aug. 2023
First, the potatoes are roasted to deepen their flavor.
—Joy Howard, Southern Living, 3 Sep. 2023
Catherine Santino, Peoplemag, 16 Sep. 2023
The sauce for the snapper and the roast potatoes and green beans are cooked in the microwave.
—cleveland, 11 Sep. 2023
And make sure there’s a roast beef sandwich on your table too.
—Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2023
How To Serve Creamed Corn This vegetable side dish goes great with roast chicken, pork tenderloin, or meatloaf.
—Jasmine Smith, Southern Living, 10 Sep. 2023
For a nourishing pick-me-up between strolling the Freedom Trail and catching a Red Sox game, go for a savory option like the roast beef sandwich (a Massachusetts classic) on fluffy focaccia—or try one of the daily specials handwritten on the chalkboard.
—Megan Zhang, Saveur, 6 Sep. 2023
But the roast beef sandwich with sharp cheddar is utter, delicious nonsense.
—Kturnqui, oregonlive, 1 Sep. 2023
The garlic roast beef sub is another Deli Heroes sub and includes roast beef, double provolone cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions and roasted garlic aioli on Italian bread (as are the three other Deli Heroes).
—Sabrina Weiss, Peoplemag, 29 Aug. 2023
The Always Pan claims to come with 10 total functions: To sear, bake, braise, steam, fry, boil, roast, strain, serve and sauté.
—Josie Howell | Jhowell@al.com, al, 24 Aug. 2023
Joey Garrison, USA TODAY, 14 Apr. 2023
My mom made roast beef hash with hers.
—Murr Brewster, The Christian Science Monitor, 16 Aug. 2022
Tallying nearly 35 million TikTok followers since joining the platform right before the pandemic hit, Ramsay uses his account to both hilariously roast TikTokers' culinary disasters and tap into viral food trends.
—Antonia Debianchi, Peoplemag, 14 Nov. 2022
The options are egg salad, tuna salad, chicken salad, ham and Swiss, turkey club, Italian and roast beef.
—Susan Dunne, courant.com, 27 Jan. 2022
Christmas specials to include roast goose shanks, as well as the full regular menu.
—Carol Deptolla, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9 Dec. 2021
The 10 smart Programs are roast, stew, bake, steam, slow cook, sear/sauté, rice, yogurt, ferment and warm.
—Mark Heim | Mheim@al.com, al, 11 Nov. 2021
Tran came up in comedy through the roast scene as a performer on Roast Battle and writer for Historical Roasts, and her stand-up retains that defiant, gutsy style.
—Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 1 Nov. 2021
Best of all was the evening’s special ($38), an enormous filet of tender grouper fish cooked to perfection, topped with olive tapenade and served with roast purple potato, heirloom tomatoes and a buttery sauce.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 July 2021
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Verb
Irrelevant is an offshoot of — and next door to — Relevant Coffee Roasters, a cafe and roasting company that Montgomery started in 2014.
—oregonlive, 14 Sep. 2023
Or breathe new life into past-their-prime veggies by roasting them with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper.
—Leslie Goldman, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 Sep. 2023
For a heart-healthy source of nitrates, beets can be added to smoothies or roasted along with other seasonal vegetables.
—Stephanie Brown, Verywell Health, 13 Sep. 2023
Fennel is crisp and slightly sweet and caramelizes beautifully when roasted in the oven.
—Emma Phelps, Southern Living, 9 Sep. 2023
Your air fryer can even function as a Thanksgiving helper: Use it to make side dishes while the oven roasts the main event.
—Mackenzie Chung Fegan, Bon Appétit, 8 Sep. 2023
Use kale in salads, quickly sautéed until just softened, cooked slowly with garlic and vegetable broth; use it in place of spinach in creamed spinach, or roast it for kale chips.
—Treehugger Editors, Treehugger, 7 Sep. 2023
The mesh design, when coupled with the rainfly and good staking, will stand up to storms and not roast you when camping in the midsummer heat.
—Scott Gilbertson, WIRED, 30 Aug. 2023
First, the potatoes are roasted to deepen their flavor.
—Joy Howard, Southern Living, 3 Sep. 2023
Noun
The menu included seafood, pasta, roast beef and a three-tiered carrot cake — Crawford’s favorite.
—Catherine Santino, Peoplemag, 16 Sep. 2023
The sauce for the snapper and the roast potatoes and green beans are cooked in the microwave.
—cleveland, 11 Sep. 2023
And make sure there’s a roast beef sandwich on your table too.
—Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2023
How To Serve Creamed Corn This vegetable side dish goes great with roast chicken, pork tenderloin, or meatloaf.
—Jasmine Smith, Southern Living, 10 Sep. 2023
For a nourishing pick-me-up between strolling the Freedom Trail and catching a Red Sox game, go for a savory option like the roast beef sandwich (a Massachusetts classic) on fluffy focaccia—or try one of the daily specials handwritten on the chalkboard.
—Megan Zhang, Saveur, 6 Sep. 2023
But the roast beef sandwich with sharp cheddar is utter, delicious nonsense.
—Kturnqui, oregonlive, 1 Sep. 2023
The garlic roast beef sub is another Deli Heroes sub and includes roast beef, double provolone cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions and roasted garlic aioli on Italian bread (as are the three other Deli Heroes).
—Sabrina Weiss, Peoplemag, 29 Aug. 2023
The Always Pan claims to come with 10 total functions: To sear, bake, braise, steam, fry, boil, roast, strain, serve and sauté.
—Josie Howell | Jhowell@al.com, al, 24 Aug. 2023
Adjective
The Menu: Starters included Lambay Island crab cake and asparagus, while Biden was treated to duck fat fondant potato, rainbow carrots, pea and mint puree, sherry vinegar lamb jus, roast saddle of lamb and confit lamb shoulder as main courses.
—Joey Garrison, USA TODAY, 14 Apr. 2023
My mom made roast beef hash with hers.
—Murr Brewster, The Christian Science Monitor, 16 Aug. 2022
Tallying nearly 35 million TikTok followers since joining the platform right before the pandemic hit, Ramsay uses his account to both hilariously roast TikTokers' culinary disasters and tap into viral food trends.
—Antonia Debianchi, Peoplemag, 14 Nov. 2022
The options are egg salad, tuna salad, chicken salad, ham and Swiss, turkey club, Italian and roast beef.
—Susan Dunne, courant.com, 27 Jan. 2022
Christmas specials to include roast goose shanks, as well as the full regular menu.
—Carol Deptolla, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9 Dec. 2021
The 10 smart Programs are roast, stew, bake, steam, slow cook, sear/sauté, rice, yogurt, ferment and warm.
—Mark Heim | Mheim@al.com, al, 11 Nov. 2021
Tran came up in comedy through the roast scene as a performer on Roast Battle and writer for Historical Roasts, and her stand-up retains that defiant, gutsy style.
—Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 1 Nov. 2021
Best of all was the evening’s special ($38), an enormous filet of tender grouper fish cooked to perfection, topped with olive tapenade and served with roast purple potato, heirloom tomatoes and a buttery sauce.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 July 2021
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'roast.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Verb
Middle English rosten, from Anglo-French rostir, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German rōsten to roast
First Known Use
Verb
13th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a
Noun
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Adjective
14th century, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of roast was
in the 13th century
Phrases Containing roast
Articles Related to roast
Dictionary Entries Near roast
Cite this Entry
“Roast.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/roast. Accessed 28 Sep. 2023.
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Kids Definition
roast
1 of 3 verb1
: to cook with dry heat (as in an oven)
2
: to be or make very hot
3
: to criticize severely in either a serious or joking way
roast
2 of 3 noun1
: a piece of meat roasted or suitable for roasting
2
: an outing at which food is roasted
3
: severe criticism or kidding
roast
3 of 3 adjective
: cooked by roasting
roast beef
roast pork
More from Merriam-Webster on roast
Nglish: Translation of roast for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of roast for Arabic Speakers
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