Word of the Day

: February 13, 2020

gustatory

adjective GUSS-tuh-tor-ee

What It Means

: relating to or associated with eating or the sense of taste

gustatory in Context

"December may be full of sparkling holiday soirees, intimate dinners with friends or boisterous family gatherings. This glorious gustatory time is perfect for preparing luscious hors d'oeuvres, creative cocktails, delectable desserts and time-honored traditional treats." — Robin Glowa, The Ridgefield (Connecticut) Press, 14 Dec. 2019

"But I recently discovered that all the aforementioned fatteners aren't the Most Dangerous Food at your friendly neighborhood/highway-side convenience store. No. It's this dang-near-basketball-size, strawberry-cheese muffin. I encountered this gustatory Public Enemy No. 1 recently when I got gas at a convenience store in southwest Little Rock, then decided to go inside. Just for coffee, mind you." — Helaine Williams, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 17 Nov. 2019

Did You Know?

Gustatory is a member of a finite set of words that describe the senses with which we encounter our world, the other members being visual, aural, olfactory, and tactile. Like its peers, gustatory has its roots in Latin—in this case, the Latin word gustare, meaning "to taste." Gustare is a somewhat distant relative of several common English words, among them choose and disgust, but it is a direct ancestor of gustatory, gustation, meaning "the act or sensation of tasting," and degustation, meaning "the action or an instance of tasting especially in a series of small portions."