Word.ws English Dictionary

mashed potatoes

mashed potatoes is the plural of mashed potato.

Noun

mashed potatoes sg or pl

  1. (plural, singular) A dish consisting of potatoes that have been boiled, mashed to a pulpy consistency, and mixed with such ingredients as butter or milk.
    • Mashed potatoes is (or are) my favorite starch dish.
    • McInerney says he has a “big dinner” to attend that evening, so he opts for onion soup and a Bibb salad, although he acquiesces when the waitress suggests some mashed potatoes on the side.2026 April 4, Jonathan Derbyshire, “Lunch with the FT: Jay McInerney”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3
  2. (plural, singular) Partially melted snow with a pulpy texture, making for slow skiing.
    • During late-season skiing, I have encountered ice in the morning and mashed potatoes in the afternoon.19841 November, Richard C. Sailiant, “Ask Skiing [letter]”, in Skiing, page 38
    • The Eastern ski tribe could confidently expect much ice underfoot while the Western contingent could expect much mashed potatoes around the ankles.1996 Spring-Summer, Morten Lund, “Skiing Down Those Golden Years with John Jay”, in Skiing Heritage Journal, page 7
  3. (plural, singular) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see mash, potato.

Meaning of mashed potato

Noun

mashed potato (countable and uncountable, plural mashed potatoes)

  1. (countable, rare) A single potato prepared in this manner.
    • But what God wants is mashed potatoes. Not many potatoes—one mashed potato. No potato can stand up and say, “Here I am! I’m a potato.” The word must be we.1975 May, Juan Carlos Ortiz, “Mashed Potato Love”, in Disciple, Carol Stream, Ill.: Creation House, published November 1975, →ISBN, part 1 (The New Wine), page 62
  2. (countable, usually preceded by definite article) A dance or a dance move popular in Western culture the 1960s.
    • A Mashed Potato started long time ago
      With a guy named Sloppy Joe
      You'll find this dance is so cool to do
      Come on baby, wanna teach it to you.1962, Kal Mann, Bernie Lowe, “Mashed Potato Time”, in It's Mashed Potato Time, performed by Dee Dee Sharp, Cameo Records

Synonyms of mashed potatoes

Words formed from mashed potatoes

Questions about mashed potatoes

What does mashed potatoes mean?
Mashed potatoes means a dish consisting of potatoes that have been boiled, mashed to a pulpy consistency, and mixed with such ingredients as butter or milk.
What is mashed potatoes the plural of?
Mashed potatoes is the plural of mashed potato.
What part of speech is mashed potatoes?
Mashed potatoes is a noun.

Words near mashed potatoes in the dictionary

  1. mashed
  2. mashed on
  3. mashed potato
  4. mashed potato-ey
  5. mashed potato-y
  6. mashed potatoes
  7. mashed potatoey
  8. mashed up
  9. mashed-potato-y
  10. mashed-potatoey
  11. masheen

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mashed potatoes (page history and authors); mashed potato (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-mashed potatoes.wav.

Cite this entry: “mashed potatoes.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mashed_potatoes. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.