soup

noun

ˈsüp 

1

: a liquid food especially with a meat, fish, or vegetable stock as a base and often containing pieces of solid food

2

: something (such as a heavy fog or nitroglycerine) having or suggesting the consistency or nutrient qualities of soup

3

: an unfortunate predicament

that stunt landed her in the soup

Synonyms of soup

• fog
• haze
• cloud
• mist

Examples of soup in a Sentence

in soup like this, amateur pilots can easily become disoriented

Recent Examples on the Web

Fold it into pasta sauce, risotto, mac and cheese, soup or stew. — Ryan Brennan, Kansas City Star, 3 Nov. 2026

Traditional dishes such as callaloo soup, saltfish buljol and roasted breadfruit sing with flavour. — James Rampton, TheWeek, 3 Nov. 2026

The Sukhothai-style tom yum noodle soup is a must-order, and encapsulates the best of Thai noodle soups with a deeply savory-acidic broth topped with bouncy fish cakes, meatballs, and rice noodles. — Ali Domrongchai, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 Nov. 2026

During a recent visit, chefs were preparing hot soups for the long winter ahead. — Robert Channick, Chicago Tribune, 2 Nov. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English soupe, from Anglo-French supe sop, soup, of Germanic origin; akin to Old Norse soppa soup, Old English sopp — more at sup

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing soup

• alphabet soup
• bird's nest soup
• chicken noodle soup
• chicken soup
• condensed soup
• duck soup
• egg drop soup
• French onion soup
• from soup to nuts
• in the soup
• miso soup
• mock turtle soup
• onion soup
• pea soup
• primordial soup
• soup du jour
• soup kitchen
• soup spoon
• soup to nuts
• soup up

Rhymes for soup

• coop
• coupe
• croup
• droop
• drupe
• dupe
• group
• hoop
• loop
• lupe
• oop
• poop

Video

An Abbreviated History of American English Spelling

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to Ask the Editor, I'm Peter Sokolowski, Editor at Large at Merriam-Webster.
 
Many people over the years have tried to simplify English spelling. Benjamin Franklin even worked out an entire new phonetic system and George Bernard Shaw funded research into creating a whole new alphabet. But probably the only successful spelling reformer in the history of the English language was Noah Webster, who made the changes that we recognize today as American-English spelling.
 
Webster was a patriot through and through and he passionately believed that the new nation should have its own language. He said that a national language is a national tie and since America was made up of people from different cultures and classes, it was important to establish that language right away as being distinct from that of the British colonizers.
 
Webster's first book wasn't a dictionary, but a spelling book. It was a kind of textbook with exercises and readings called the Blue Back Speller and was used for generations to teach reading and writing. A few years later, he published an essay advocating a radical simplification of English spelling.
 
For example, he wanted to spell ache, as in headache, A-K-E, soup with a double o, and to drop the silent E at the end of words like determine.
 
He would have changed tongue to T-U-N-G, and women to W-I-M-M-E-N.
 
Those these changes might have been phonetically logical, most of them were just too radical.
 
However, some of his recommendations caught on.He dropped the U in words like color, humor, and honor, and changed the S to Z in words like civilization and the R-E to E-R in words like center and theater.
 
Webster believed that the moment right after the Revolution was the time for a declaration of cultural independence and his spelling book and dictionaries marked the beginning of the true recognition of American English.
 
Watch for more segments of Ask the Editor here at merriam-webster.com.

Kids Definition

soup

noun

ˈsüp 

1

: a liquid food with a meat, fish, or vegetable stock as a base and often containing pieces of solid food

2

: something like or suggesting soup (as a heavy fog)

Etymology

from early French supe "soup"; of Germanic origin