Word.ws English Dictionary

appetizing

UK/ˈæp.ə.taɪz.ɪŋ/

appetizing adjective: that appeals to, or stimulates the appetite. Also the present participle and gerund of appetize.

Adjective

appetizing (comparative more appetizing, superlative most appetizing)

  1. That appeals to, or stimulates the appetite.
    • This food looks so appetizing.
    • The appearance of the wild ducks is very appetizing.1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown...
  2. (broadly) Appealing or enticing.

Noun

appetizing (usually uncountable, plural appetizings)

  1. (usually) any food traditionally eaten with a bagel, as an accompaniment, topping or filling; including dairy products and pareve but not meat
    • And of all the foods that are represented in the city, perhaps none has remained so tied to Jewish tradition and identity as appetizings.2019 January 23, Yamit Behar Wood, “The Appetizing World of Murray’s”, in Jewish Journal
    • Alina Sheffi, a slicer at Russ & Daughters, stands at her usual spot in the long, narrow space behind the glass display case full of cream cheese, sides of lox, pickled herring, white fish, schmaltz, and all other manner of appetizing.2020 November 11, Joshua David Stein, “Good-bye to the Lox Sherpa of Russ & Daughters”, in Grub Street

Also used as

appetizing is also the present participle and gerund of appetize.

Forms of appetizing

Adjective
comparativemore appetizing
superlativemost appetizing
alternative formappetising
Noun
pluralappetizings

Origin of appetizing

Calque of French appétissant, French -ant being equivalent to -ing. See also appetite

Words formed from appetizing

Questions about appetizing

What does appetizing mean?
Appetizing means that appeals to, or stimulates the appetite.
What part of speech is appetizing?
Appetizing can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce appetizing?
Appetizing is pronounced /ˈæp.ə.taɪz.ɪŋ/ (UK).

Words near appetizing in the dictionary

  1. appetize
  2. appetized
  3. appetizer
  4. appetizers
  5. appetizes
  6. appetizing
  7. appetizingly
  8. appetizingness
  9. Appiah
  10. Appiahs
  11. Appian

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: appetizing (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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