What does "kitchen" mean?
A room or area for preparing food.
Kitchen
/ˈkɪt͡ʃ(ɪ)n/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A room or area for preparing food.
- Grammar: kitchen is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: appliances, automat, bakehouse, bakery.
- Useful contrasts: living room, bedroom, ben.
- Usage evidence: When she returned home from school, she began to help her mother in the kitchen.
How to use "kitchen"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "kitchen" 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 "kitchen" 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 "kitchen" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "kitchen" 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 "kitchen" is acting as name, 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 "appliances" 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 "kitchen", 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 room or area for preparing food.
"We cook in the kitchen."
- 2 a room equipped for preparing meals wordnet
- 3 Cuisine; style of cooking. broadly
"I had been trained with the rigidity and discipline of the French kitchen, and now I was embracing American informality."
- 4 The nape of a person's hairline, often referring to its uncombed or "nappy" look.
- 5 The percussion section of an orchestra.
"For obvious reasons the percussion is normally arranged along the back of the platform, whether centrally or to one side, and sometimes also in two tiers, the heavy, noisier instruments behind, and the pitched, agile instruments such as vibraphone, marimba, etc. in front. An outstanding exception, however, exists in Roberto Gerhard's Epithalamion where the composer expressly desired that the all-important kitchen department be spread out in front of the strings and hence nearest the audience."
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 A utensil for roasting meat. dated
"There are two modes of roasting: One is to use a tin kitchen before an open fire, and the other, and more common way, is to use a hot oven."
- 7 A domesticated or uneducated form of a language. attributive
"Sir Henry and Umbopo sat conversing in a mixture of broken English and kitchen Zulu, in low voices, but earnestly enough."
- 8 A public gaming room in a casino. slang
"Having done what was required to gain admittance to the "kitchen," as the public rooms are termed, as well as to the more exclusive "Salle Privée" […]"
- 9 Anything eaten as a relish with bread, potatoes, etc.; a condiment. obsolete
"“They,” said he, meaning the collops, “are such as I gave his Royal Highness in this very house; bating the lemon juice, for at that time we were glad to get the meat and never fashed for kitchen. Indeed, there were mair dragoons than lemons in my country in the year forty-six.”"
- 10 The region of a billiard table between the head rail and the head string.
Verb
- 1 To do kitchen work; to prepare food.
"A dress scarcely suited to woodland kitchening was defended by an apron borrowed from the maid."
- 2 To embellish a basic food; to season, add condiments, etc.
"I have found it so, for whenever I saw the meal and potatoes running low, I spared them, and kitchened them all I could, and never was run out of them till the new came in."
- 3 To embellish; to dress up. broadly
"His Maker has not so endowed him as to lay him under the necessity of kitchening, so to speak, a slender share of talent, and, by rigid economy, make it go as far as possible."
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname. countable
"Steve Kitchen was a fast-talking, enthusiastic entrepreneur who had developed a couple of successful Atari video games."
- 2 A placename; An unincorporated community in Jackson County, Ohio, United States countable, uncountable
- 3 A placename; An unincorporated community in Logan County, West Virginia, United States countable, uncountable
- 4 A placename; Ellipsis of Kitchen Creek abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable
- 5 A placename; Ellipsis of Kitchen Run abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable
Example
"When she returned home from school, she began to help her mother in the kitchen."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "kitchen"?
Common synonyms include: appliances, automat, bakehouse, bakery, beanery, bistro.
How do you use "kitchen" in a sentence?
When she returned home from school, she began to help her mother in the kitchen.
How do you pronounce "kitchen"?
Pronounced /ˈkɪt͡ʃ(ɪ)n/.
Etymology
From Middle English kychyn, kytchen, kichene, küchen, from Old English cyċen, cyċene, from Proto-West Germanic *kukinā, a borrowing from Late Latin cocīna, from earlier coquīna (“kitchen; cuisine”), from coquō (“to cook”), from Proto-Indo-European *pekʷ- (“to cook, become ripe”). In other languages, the cognate term often refers both to the room and the type of cooking. In English, the distinction is generally made via the etymological twins kitchen (“room”) (Latin via Germanic) and cuisine (“type of cooking”) (Latin via French).