tart

1 of 2

adjective

1
: agreeably sharp or acid to the taste
a tart apple
2
: marked by a biting, acrimonious, or cutting quality
a tart rejoinder
tartish adjective
tartly adverb
tartness noun

tart

2 of 2

noun

plural tarts
1
: a dish baked in a pastry shell : pie: such as
a
: a small pie or pastry shell without a top containing jelly, custard, or fruit
b
: a small pie made of pastry folded over a filling
2
informal + disapproving
a
: a woman who has multiple sexual partners : a woman who is sexually promiscuous
b
: a woman who engages in sex acts and especially sexual intercourse in exchange for pay : a woman who is a sex worker

Examples of tart in a Sentence

Adjective The wine is rather tart. The comedian responded to the heckler with a tart comeback. I didn't add enough sugar to the lemonade, and now it's way too tart. Noun another movie featuring an Old West saloon scene with the requisite gamblers, gunslingers, and tarts
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
An earthy, dusty nose leads into the strawberry and tart raspberry fruit tones. Lana Bortolot, Forbes, 29 Sep. 2024 Be picky: Opt for tart baking apples like Granny Smith, Braeburn, or Honeycrisp. Molly Bolton, Southern Living, 29 Sep. 2024
Noun
Whether the cocktail reads sweet or tart will depend on the balance of those two ingredients, not on the quantity of sugar itself; a properly made Daiquiri or Mojito will finish with the tart zing of lime, but the 0.75 oz. Jason O'Bryan, Robb Report, 17 Aug. 2024 The Pioneer Woman Pumpkin Pie Dish - Merlot $25 at Walmart The pie dish is suitable for baking and serving various recipes, including pies, of course, plus cobblers, crisps, quiches, and tarts. Bridget Degnan, Southern Living, 18 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for tart 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tart.' 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

Adjective

Middle English, from Old English teart sharp, severe; akin to Middle High German traz spite

Noun

Middle English tart, tarte, borrowed from Anglo-French tarte (also continental Old French), probably altered from Old French torte, tourte "round loaf," going back to Late Latin tōrta, probably alteration of Latin torta "curved, bent, coiled, twisted," from feminine of tortus, past participle of torquēre "to twist tightly, wind"; (sense 2) earlier, in argot or slang of England, Australia, and New Zealand, "girlfriend," perhaps short for jam tart, rhyming slang for sweetheart — more at torture entry 1

Note: Late Latin <torta> is first attested in several passages of the Vulgate, once as <tortam panis> (with pānis in the genitive). The connection to tortus, an adjective meaning "coiled," would seem natural applied to a round loaf of bread, presumably formable by coiling the dough. French tourte, however, as well as Italian torta (with /o/, not /ɔ/), have the reflex of ō rather than ŏ, a change for which no completely acceptable explanation has been found. J. Coromines (Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico) sees Late Latin tōrta as originally the plural of a neuter *tōrtum, borrowed from Greek *tōrtídion, formed by crasis from tò artídion, a diminutive of ártos "bread"; though not impossible, the etymology depends crucially on multiple unattested forms. — French tarte would appear to be a modification of to(u)rte. It is attested with a variant tartre in late Old French and modern French dialects, and parallel words can be found in Italian: tartara (13th century) "cake made with almonds and sugar," Upper Italian tartra (Piedmont), tártera (Milan), tartra (Parma). These forms have been attributed to the influence of Medieval Latin tartarum "bitartrate of potassium" (see tartar entry 1), the crusts of which, formed in wine casks, would supposedly have had a likeness to crusts of bread or pastry.

First Known Use

Adjective

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of tart was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near tart

Cite this Entry

“Tart.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tart. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

tart

1 of 2 adjective
1
: pleasantly sharp or sour to the taste
2
: having a sharp or biting quality
a tart voice
tartly adverb
tartness noun

tart

2 of 2 noun
: a small pie or pastry shell containing jelly, custard, or fruit

More from Merriam-Webster on tart

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