Sherry Meaning
/ˈʃɛɹi/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA fortified wine produced in Jerez de la Frontera in Spain, or a similar wine produced elsewhere.
nounA variety of sherry.
Sentence Examples
Yes, I'll have sherry.
Gabriel took nothing but the hot soup and a little sherry.
CEFR Practice Quiz
During the wine tasting, she poured a glass of sweet ____ from Spain.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The guests were offered a small glass of ____ before sitting down for the evening meal.
Word Origin & History
Back-formation of earlier sherris (interpreted as a plural), from Spanish (vino de) Xeres (“wine of Xeres”), Xeres being the former spelling of Jerez (pronounced /ʃeˈɾes/ in early modern Andalusian Spanish).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"He gazed around until on the lid of a spinet he spotted a promising collection of bottles, gin, whiskey, vermouth and sherry, mixed with violin bows, a flute, a toppling pile of books, six volumes of Grove's Dictionary mingled with paperback thrillers, a guitar without any strings, a pair of binoculars, a meerschaum pipe and a jar half-full of wasps and apricot jam."
— 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 14, in Crime out of Mind:
"Sherry Turkle, a psychologist and an M.I.T. professor who worked with Weizenbaum, coined the term the “Eliza Effect” to describe people convincing themselves that a technology that seemed human was more intelligent, perceptive and complex than it actually was."
— 2025 December 19, Kashmir Hill, “Why Do A.I. Chatbots Use ‘I’?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 Dec 2025:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
During the wine tasting, she poured a glass of sweet ____ from Spain.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The guests were offered a small glass of ____ before sitting down for the evening meal.