margarine

CEFRB1

/ˌmɑː.d͡ʒəˈɹiːn/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A soft yellow spread made from vegetable oils or animal fats.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    The solid ingredient of human fat, olive oil, etc.

Examples

  • You can use margarine as a substitute for butter.

  • We substitute margarine for butter.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4
Synonyms
3

Also pronounced

  • /ˈmaɾ.ɡɐ.ɾɪn/
  • /ˈmɑː.d͡ʒ(ə.)ɹɪn/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. To spread or cover (something) with margarine.

  2. A spread, manufactured from a blend of vegetable oils (some of which are hydrogenated), emulsifiers etc, mostly used as a substitute for butter.

More examples

In context

  • She is margarining a slice of bread, rubbing the grease carefully into the crumb.

  • Putting the finishing touches on her party dinner, this attractive hostess does the last minute job of margarining her rolls to serve piping hot to her guests.

  • Now that she was back in the land of the living, she took to margarining our toast again.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

She used a vegetable oil-based spread called blank instead of butter on her toast.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

Borrowed from French margarine, from acide margarique (“margaric acid”), from Ancient Greek μάργαρον (márgaron, “pearl”), in allusion to its pearly lustre, with the suffix -ine, influenced by glycérine (“glycerine”). French chemist Michel Eugène Chevreul named margaric acid after its pearl-like crystallization.