By Joan Whetzel
Describing taste in words is challenging to say the least. As writers, we need to elicit the memory of specific flavors and flavor combinations within the reader’s minds so that they can taste what you are writing about. Creating a sort of taste-o-vision for our readers is what we’re after by using these types of taste words.
The Tastes
- Taste
Taste, as a verb, means to distinguish between flavors using the mouth, to perceive with the sense of taste, to have a distinct flavor, or to experience, enjoy, or partake of some food or drink. As an noun, taste includes the sense that distinguishes between salty, sweet, sour, and bitter flavors that are dissolved into foods, drinks, and other substances. The sense of taste works in combination with the senses of smell and touch (texture) to gain the complete experience. Taste also includes the act of tasting, the perception of liking specific flavors or experiences, and the ability to distinguish between different flavors.
Thesaurus Synonyms
· Nouns: flavor, smack, tang, savor, relish, palate, taste in the mouth, sweetness, sourness, bitterness, saltiness, aftertaste, savoriness, sip, sup, lick, bite, lick, sample, specimen, taste bud, tongue, lingua, palate, tasting, savoring.
· Verbs: taste, savor, sip, sup, roll on the tongue, lick, smack
· Adjs: flavored, flavor, sapid, soporific, savory, flavorful, sweet, sour, bitter, bittersweet, salt, lingual, tongue-like
- Savoriness
Savory flavors and tastes, or savoriness can be used as an adjective or nouns. As an adjective, savoriness means anything that is appetizing to taste or smell, anything that is piquant, pungent or salty. As a noun, savoriness includes any dish with a pungent flavor (e.g. anchovies, pickled fruits or veggies).
Thesaurus Synonyms
· Nouns: palatibleness, palatability, tastiness, goodness, good taste, deliciousness, scrumptiousness, yumminess, lusciousness, delectability, flavorfulness, savor, relish, zest, gusto, flavoring, flavor, seasoning, condiment, spice
· Verbs: taste good, tickle the palate, tempt the appetite, make one's mouth water, melt in one's mouth, savor, relish, like, love, enjoy, have a soft spot for, smack the lips, taste, taste of, smack of, have the flavor of, season, salt pepper, spice, sauce
· Adjs: tasty, good, fit to eat, finger lickin' good, palatable, toothsome, nice, delicious, exquisite, delicate, dainty, luscious, lush, ambrosial, fit for a king, gourmet, flavorful, full-bodied, rich, appetizing, mouthwatering, tempting.
- Unsavoriness
Unsavoriness is, obviously, the opposite of savoriness. Unsavoriness, used as an adjective, means anything distasteful or disagreeable.
Thesaurus Synonyms
· Nouns: unpalatibleness, distastefulness, bad taste, acridness, acridity, tartness, sharpness, astringence, sourness, bitterness, bitter taste, nastiness, foulness, vileness, loathsomeness, repulsiveness, obnoxiousness, rankness, rancidity, repugnance
· Verbs: disgust, repel, nauseate, turn' one's stomach, gross one out
· Adjs: unpalatable, unappetizing, distasteful, uninviting, bitter, acrid, nasty, offensive, noxious, gross, icky, yucky, sickening, nauseating, nauseous, poisonous, rank, rancid, maggoty, weevil, spoiled, overripe, rotten, stinking, putrid, malodorous, fetid, inedible, uneatable, not fit to eat or drink, impotable, unfit for human consumption.
- Insipidness
Insipidness, used as an adjective, means lacking in flavor, having no zest, and not tasty..
Thesaurus
· Nouns: tastelessness, flavorlessness, weakness, thinness, whish-washiness, flatness, staleness,
· adjs: tasteless, flavorless, bland, spiceless, savorless, unflavored, gruelly, weak, thin, mild, wishy-washy, milk toast, watery, watered down, diluted, flat, stale
- Sweetness
Sweetness, as an adjective, includes anything that tastes of sugar, honey, or sugar substitutes (anything resembling sugar), containing or derived from sugar. The noun, sweetness, means a sweet taste, a sweet quality, or something that tastes sweet (e.g. candy, deserts, jellies and jams).
Thesaurus
· Nouns: sweet, sweetishness, saccharinity, sugariness, syrupiness, over-sweetness, cloyingness, sickly sweetness, sweetening, sweetener, sugar, sweetening agent, sugar-substitute saccharin, aspartame, Nutra Sweet, cyclamates, blackstrap, syrup, maple syrup, cane syrup, molasses, treacle, honey, nectar, ambrosia
· Verbs: sweeten, sugar, honey, sugarcoated, glaze, candy, mull
· Adjs: sweet, sweetish, sugary, candied, honeyed, syrupy, ambrosial, sugar sweet, honeysweet, sweet as sugar or honey, oversweet, saccharine, cloyingly, sickly sweet
- Sourness
Sourness, as an adjective can be defined as having the taste produced by acids, sharp, tart, or tangy tastes; anything made acid or rancid through the fermentation process; and tasting or smelling of decay. As a noun, sourness is the sensation of a sour taste.
Thesaurus Synonyms
· Nouns: sourness, tartness, hyperacidity, vinegariness, dryness pungency, vinegar, pickle, sour pickle, dill pickle, lemon, lime, crab apple, green apple, acid, souring , acidification,
· Verbs: sour, acidify, ferment, set one's teeth on edge
· Adjs: sour, tart, crab, crabbed, vinegarish, pungent, dry, green, unripe, acid,
- Pungency
Pungency affects the taste and smell with a sharp, acrid sensation. Pungency is penetrating, biting, sharp, or caustic.
Thesaurus
· Nouns: piquancy, sharpness, edge causticity, astringency, acridity, bitterness, sourness, zest, briskness, nippiness, tanginess, spiciness, tang, spice, nip, bite, punch, snap, zip, ginger, kick, strength, high flavor, gaminess, saltiness, salinity, slat, brine
· Verbs: bite, nip, cut, penetrate, bite the tongue, sting, make the eyes water, go up the nose
· Adjs. piquant, sharp, biting, acrid, sour, bitter, caustic, zestful, brisk, nippy, tangy, spicy, peppery, strong, rank gamy, saline, briny, brackish, pickled
Resources
Roget’s Thesaurus. Fifth Edition. Edited by Robert L. Chapman. New York, New York: Harper’s and Collins Publishers, 1992.
American Heritage Dictionary
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