noun

cupboard

KUHB-uhd

noun

A cabinet or small closet with doors and shelves, used to store dishes, food, or other household items.

"The plates and bowls are kept in the cupboard above the sink."

"She checked the cupboard for a tin of soup."

How to Use Cupboard

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishA small cabinet, usually built into a kitchen wall, for storing dishes or food.

UK vs US

British English uses "cupboard" broadly for kitchen and household storage cabinets; American English more often says "cabinet" for the same thing, reserving "cupboard" mainly for kitchen use.

Word Forms

cupboarded past tense, cupboards plural, cupboards singular

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Fill the Gap

Can you complete this real example?

The plates and bowls are kept in the _____ above the sink.

Etymology

Originally meant a board or table for displaying valuable dishware — literally a "cup board." Over time the pronunciation shifted and the word came to mean an enclosed storage cabinet instead of an open display shelf.

Synonyms

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pantry larder

Related Words

larder pantry

Rhymes for cupboard

board hoard aboard onboard keyboard outboard seaboard backboard starboard cardboard surfboard clipboard

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