dish

13 synonyms for dish, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.

Noun — A shallow container used for serving or holding food.

Synonyms

Everyday swaps

Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.

plate bowl vessel course bag beauty serve

Less common

Still standard English, but they carry more weight.

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Rare, literary or technical

Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.

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Synonyms by Meaning

1. noun

A shallow container used for serving or holding food.

“Pour the sauce into a shallow dish and leave it to cool.”

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2. verb

To serve food, especially onto plates.

“Could you dish out the soup while I pour the drinks?”

serve

How to use dish

The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.

do the dishes dish out side dish main dish

Etymology

From Old English disc, from a West Germanic word for "table" or "dish," ultimately borrowed from Latin discus — the same root that gave us "desk" and "discus."

Full origin of dish →

Frequently asked questions

What does “dish” mean?

The word “dish” means a shallow container used for serving or holding food. In plain terms, a plate or bowl, a type of food, or (informally) to serve food or spill gossip.

How do you pronounce “dish”?

“Dish” is pronounced dihsh (/dɪʃ/ in IPA).

How do you use “dish” in a sentence?

Here is “dish” used in a sentence: “She set a dish of olives on the table.”

What part of speech is “dish”?

Depending on how it is used, “dish” can be a noun and a verb.

Where does the word “dish” come from?

The word “dish” comes from Latin. From Old English disc, from a West Germanic word for "table" or "dish," ultimately borrowed from Latin discus — the same root that gave us "desk" and "discus.".

Is “dish” a common word?

“Dish” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A1 level.

How many meanings does “dish” have?

“Dish” has 5 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a shallow container used for serving or holding food.

What is the difference between a 'dish' and a 'plate'?

A plate is a flat item you eat from, whereas a dish is usually a deeper, shallow-sided container used for serving or holding food. 'Dish' is also a general word for any piece of crockery and for a prepared food itself.

What is the difference between a 'dish' and a 'bowl'?

A bowl is deep and rounded for holding liquids or loose food, while a dish is typically shallower and often used for serving. In everyday use the terms overlap, and 'doing the dishes' covers all the dirty crockery.

What do the phrases 'dish out' and 'dish the dirt' mean?

To 'dish out' means to hand out or distribute something, as in 'dish out advice,' while to 'dish the dirt' means to share gossip. Both are informal extensions of the food-serving sense of dish.

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Nearby words

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