tart

1 of 2

adjective

ˈtärt

Synonyms of tart next

: agreeably sharp or acid to the taste

a tart apple

: marked by a biting, acrimonious, or cutting quality

a tart rejoinder

tartish

ˈtär-tish

adjective

tartly adverb

tartness noun

tart

2 of 2

noun

: a dish baked in a pastry shell : pie: such as

: a small pie or pastry shell without a top containing jelly, custard, or fruit

: a small pie made of pastry folded over a filling

: a promiscuous woman : a woman who has many sexual partners

: prostitute

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.

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

After a year on the job, Bezos still needed to be told (in a tart note from Bob Woodward) to attend the funeral of Ben Bradlee. —

Nathan Heller, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2023 Lemon zest: For a double dose of tart, lemony flavor. —

Southern Living Test Kitchen, Southern Living, 20 Nov. 2023 Crisp, tart, and not overly sweet, pomegranate juice adds a deep color and robust flavor to the drink, without pulling it too far in the capital F Fruity direction. —

Kendra Vaculin, Bon Appétit, 12 Nov. 2023 However, for those who want something fresher, Trader Joe's has a few to choose from: Jarred Cranberry Sauce: This sweet, tart, spoonable sauce provides a pleasant counterpoint to more savory options. —

Dave Quinn, Peoplemag, 6 Nov. 2023 The first bite was refreshingly tart, bright, and crunchy, with a gentle sweetness — a perfect snack for a hot, humid afternoon. —

Alexandra Kleeman, Travel + Leisure, 29 Oct. 2023 Apple Cranberry Crumb Pie Fresh cranberries act as a tart counterpoint to sweet apples in this filling topped with an oat crumble. —

Aaron Hutcherson, Washington Post, 23 Oct. 2023 For those overachievers, a 12 oz. bag of organic tart berries can be found amid TJ's other produce offerings. —

Dave Quinn, Peoplemag, 6 Nov. 2023 Get The Recipe 33 of 35 Cucumber-Tomato-Avocado Salad Avocado adds a nice creaminess to this otherwise tart salad. —

Jenna Sims, Southern Living, 4 Nov. 2023

Noun

Form the tart: Pour the cooled filling in the center of the dough round, leaving a 1-inch border. —

The View, ABC News, 22 Nov. 2023 The set caramel tart can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days. —

Genevieve Ko, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Nov. 2023 And the apple tart for dessert offered the perfect taste of autumn, perhaps a prelude to the Thanksgiving and Friendsgiving feasts on the horizon. —

Eliseé Browchuk, Vogue, 9 Nov. 2023 To prevent the filling from puffing and pushing out the walls of the tart during baking, it’s baked in a 9-by-13-inch pan. —

Claire Saffitz, New York Times, 9 Nov. 2023 Pack a batch of these tart, fruity bars for your next picnic or barbecue. —

Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 13 Oct. 2023 Finish off with sticky toffee cake, miso plum tart, or chocolate soufflé. —

Tori Latham, Robb Report, 2 Nov. 2023 For the egg tart, Manibusan utilizes pastry cream and vanilla bean in the filling. —

Stephanie Breijo, Los Angeles Times, 18 Oct. 2023 This kit comes with six tart rings, a piping bag and nozzles, a candy thermometer, a baking mat, and an instruction booklet. —

Moriah Mason, Southern Living, 12 Oct. 2023 See More

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.