What does "dish" mean?
A vessel such as a plate for holding or serving food, often flat with a depressed region in the middle.
Dish
/dɪʃ/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A vessel such as a plate for holding or serving food, often flat with a depressed region in the middle.
- Grammar: dish is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: saucer, a course, aerial, antenna.
- Useful contrasts: bigger pot, calder, chalice.
- Usage evidence: All you have to do is wash the dish.
How to use "dish"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "dish" 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 "dish" 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 "dish" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "dish" 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 "dish" 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 "saucer" 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 "dish", 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 vessel such as a plate for holding or serving food, often flat with a depressed region in the middle. countable, uncountable
"She brought forth butter in a lordly dish."
- 2 Abbreviation of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis. abbreviation, alt-of, uncountable
- 3 an activity that you like or at which you are superior wordnet
- 4 The contents of such a vessel. countable, uncountable
"a dish of stew"
- 5 a piece of dishware normally used as a container for holding or serving food wordnet
Show 14 more definitions
- 6 A specific type of prepared food. countable, metonymically, uncountable
"a vegetable dish"
- 7 directional antenna consisting of a parabolic reflector for microwave or radio frequency radiation wordnet
- 8 Tableware (including cutlery, etc, as well as crockery) that is to be or is being washed after being used to prepare, serve and eat a meal. countable, in-plural, uncountable
"It's your turn to wash the dishes."
- 9 a particular item of prepared food wordnet
- 10 A type of antenna with a similar shape to a plate or bowl. countable, uncountable
"satellite dish"
- 11 a very attractive or seductive looking woman wordnet
- 12 A sexually attractive person. countable, slang, uncountable
"quite a dish"
- 13 the quantity that a dish will hold wordnet
- 14 The state of being concave, like a dish, or the degree of such concavity. countable, dated, uncountable
"the dish of a wheel"
- 15 A hollow place, as in a field. countable, uncountable
"As I topped the ridge I missed my first shot at a sharptail that flushed from a grassy dish."
- 16 The home plate. countable, slang, uncountable
"He said, "I don't like your chances at the dish [home plate] tonight.""
- 17 A trough in which ore is measured. archaic, countable, uncountable
- 18 That portion of the produce of a mine which is paid to the land owner or proprietor. archaic, countable, uncountable
- 19 Gossip. slang, uncountable
"We've been a very lucky community: We've had GCN to collect our deep dish and write it up as political discourse. GCN is not just another clipboard of polite press releases. GCN is the sticky questions, the sweet moments, and the dirty stories that make up our lives."
Verb
- 1 To put in a dish or dishes; serve, usually food. transitive
- 2 make concave; shape like a dish wordnet
- 3 To gossip; to relay information about the personal situation of another. informal, slang
- 4 provide (usually but not necessarily food) wordnet
- 5 To insult, speak ill of. slang
"In the car with you I heard Joe's voice ― complaining about how invisible black people still are to whites; praising artists we admire; dishing someone's bad taste; planning future adventures; […]"
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 To make concave, or depress in the middle, like a dish. transitive
"to dish a wheel by inclining the spokes"
- 7 To frustrate; to beat; to outwit or defeat. archaic, slang, transitive
"Have the Tories "dished the Whigs"?"
Example
"All you have to do is wash the dish."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "dish"?
Common synonyms include: saucer, a course, aerial, antenna, antepast, autoclave.
How do you use "dish" in a sentence?
All you have to do is wash the dish.
How do you pronounce "dish"?
Pronounced /dɪʃ/.
Etymology
From Middle English dissh, disch, from Old English disċ (“plate; bowl; dish”), from Proto-West Germanic *disk (“table; dish”) (whence also Proto-Slavic *dъska, whence Bulgarian дъска́ (dǎská), Polish deska, Russian доска́ (doská)), Russian чан (čan)) from Latin discus. Doublet of dais, desk, disc, discus, disk, and diskos. Cognates Cognate with Scots disch (“dish; plate”), Dutch dis (“table”), German Low German Disk, Disch (“table”), German Tisch (“table”), Danish disk (“dish; counter”), Swedish disk (“dish; counter”), Icelandic diskur (“dish; plate”), Finnish tiski (“desk, counter; dish”). Compare the identical meaning expansion (vessel for food, then also content of such a vessel, then also specific type of food): Bulgarian блю́до (bljúdo), Russian блю́до (bljúdo). For the roundness aspect compare Polish rondel (“pan, saucepan”) (< Latin rotundus (whence also English round)). Also compare typologically Proto-Slavic *misъka << Latin mēnsa; Ancient Greek πίναξ (pínax) (several meanings).