noun
cocktail
KOK-tayl
noun
1
A mixed alcoholic drink, typically combining spirits with other ingredients like juice, syrup, or bitters.
"She ordered a cocktail with gin, lime, and soda."
"The bar's signature cocktail was a smoky mezcal blend."
2
A mixture of different substances or things, used more broadly.
"Doctors warned about the dangerous cocktail of drugs he was taking."
How to Use Cocktail
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA mixed alcoholic drink, or more generally any mixture of different things, often ones that don't go well together.
Common pairings
a cocktail party
mix a cocktail
a cocktail of chemicals
Word Forms
more cocktail comparative, cocktailed past tense, cocktails plural, cocktails singular, most cocktail superlative
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She ordered a _____ with gin, lime, and soda.
Etymology
From the early 1600s, originally describing a horse with a "cocked" (upright) tail, like a rooster's; how the word came to mean a mixed drink is still debated, though one theory links it to stimulating "gingered up" drinks.