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
Nenad Lazarevic, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2025
On a night that the frontcourt duo of Tyler Bilodeau and Eric Dailey Jr. continued to provide a smorgasbord of offense for the Bruins, Mack was their leading scorer on the way to an 84-70 victory over Idaho State at Pauley Pavilion.
—Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 21 Nov. 2024
Limiting the pool to those who were under 25 and didn’t step to the plate 350 times last year costs us someone like Wyatt Langford, but still leaves us a smorgasbord of young talent, all above-average across the league in our four-stat score.
—Eno Sarris, The Athletic, 24 Feb. 2025
The diner should have a whole smorgasbord to choose from.
—arkansasonline.com, 1 Mar. 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 4 May. 2025.
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smorgasbord
noun
from Swedish smörgåsbord "a buffet meal," from smörgås "open sandwich" and bord "table"
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