What does "barbecue" mean?
A fireplace or pit for grilling food, typically used outdoors and traditionally employing hot charcoal as the heating medium.
Barbecue
/ˈbɑːbɪˌkjuː/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A fireplace or pit for grilling food, typically used outdoors and traditionally employing hot charcoal as the heating medium.
- Grammar: barbecue is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: alfresco meal, aspic, bake, barbecue grill.
- Useful contrasts: boil, fry, steam.
- Usage evidence: We'll have a barbecue at the beach.
How to use "barbecue"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "barbecue" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "barbecue" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "barbecue" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "barbecue" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "barbecue" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "alfresco meal" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "barbecue", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A fireplace or pit for grilling food, typically used outdoors and traditionally employing hot charcoal as the heating medium. countable, uncountable
"We cooked our food on the barbecue."
- 2 a rack to hold meat for cooking over hot charcoal usually out of doors wordnet
- 3 A meal or event highlighted by food cooked in such an apparatus. countable, uncountable
"We're having a barbecue on Saturday, and you're invited."
- 4 a cookout in which food is cooked over an open fire; especially a whole animal carcass roasted on a spit wordnet
- 5 Meat, especially pork or beef, which has been cooked in such an apparatus (i.e. smoked over indirect heat from high-smoke fuels) and then chopped up or shredded. countable, uncountable
"She ordered a plate of barbecue with a side of slaw."
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 meat that has been barbecued or grilled in a highly seasoned sauce wordnet
- 7 A hog, ox, or other large animal roasted or broiled whole for a feast. countable, dated, uncountable
- 8 A floor on which coffee beans are sun-dried. countable, uncountable
"Drying the coffee beans took place in a barbecue, basically a large, flat platform, where the pulped coffee beans could be laid out and turned as they dried. Barbecues were often walled around and raised above ground level."
- 9 A framework of sticks. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"1705, William Dampier, Voyages and Descriptions, Volume 2, London: James Knapton, “A Supplement of the Voyage Round the World,” Chapter 5, p. 90, We found no Houses of Entertainment on the Road, yet at every Village we came we got Houseroom, and a Barbacue of split Bambooes to sleep on."
Verb
- 1 To cook food on a barbecue; to smoke food over indirect heat from high-smoke fuels. intransitive, transitive
- 2 cook outdoors on a barbecue grill wordnet
- 3 To grill. intransitive, transitive
- 4 To kill or destroy using high heat or fire; to cook; to burn. derogatory, slang, transitive
"Then he picked up a flamethrower and he barbecued Blitzen And he took a big bite and said, "It tastes just like chicken""
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"We'll have a barbecue at the beach."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "barbecue"?
Common synonyms include: alfresco meal, aspic, bake, barbecue grill, barbecue party, barbecues.
How do you use "barbecue" in a sentence?
We'll have a barbecue at the beach.
How do you pronounce "barbecue"?
Pronounced /ˈbɑːbɪˌkjuː/.
Etymology
From mid-17th century. Borrowed from Spanish barbacoa, from Taíno barbakoa (“framework of sticks”), the raised wooden structure the natives used to either sleep on or cure meat. Originally “meal of roasted meat or fish”. Doublet of balbacua and barbacoa.