adjective

• 1Strongly flavoured with pepper or other hot spices.

  ‘a hot, peppery dish’

  More example sentences

  • ‘To partner spicy or peppery dishes, New World Cabernets and Merlots generally stand up better than their European equivalents.’
  • ‘Don't be afraid of this peppery dish, it isn't that spicy after all.’
  • ‘Other sea food choices include seared red snapper, steamed flying fish served with crab meat on a bed of local pilaf rice, or grilled Cajun swordfish dished out with a peppery pineapple-melon salsa.’
  • ‘All Scottish bakers who make the bun have their own spice mix, and flavours range from strong peppery versions to milder cinnamon-flavoured ones.’
  • ‘It arrived, aromatic strips of grilled meat on a mound of arugula with a crisp baked potato and a drizzle of peppery olive oil.’
  • ‘A tender baked half chicken cut into pieces, drizzled in peppery barbecue sauce, costs $3.50.’
  • ‘However, this is a place to enjoy pure Guizhou flavour, which is also renowned for its peppery dishes.’
  • ‘This sauce, usually made with herbs and peppercorns, isn't spicy but loans a piquant, peppery flavour to the tender morsels of chicken.’
  • ‘I liked it even without the peppery sweet barbecue sauce, but the sauce was good, too.’
  • ‘While the chef had been generous with the chicken pieces, the dish was bland - warm and peppery rather than a genuine curry.’
  • ‘This burger couldn't be any meatier, but there's some subtlety here that elevates it to dinner-worthy: a peppery, sweet glaze; a switch to poultry; and that bun!’

  Synonyms

  spicy, spiced, peppered, hot, highly seasoned, pungent, fiery, gingery, piquant, sharp

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1Having a flavour or scent like that of pepper.
     ‘nasturtiums have a peppery taste’
     More example sentences

     • ‘Rich and juicy aromas of ripe plum and black cherry with mild peppery scents offer mild flavours of clove before a rip-roaring juicy fruit bursts through leading to ripe yet firm tannins taking you on a long finish.’
     • ‘Galangal is a gingery, peppery spice favored in Southeast Asian cooking, and it gives the soup an exotic kick, like a delicate, Malay version of lobster chowder.’
     • ‘My wife gave her benediction to a helping of striped bass, doused in peppery Indian spices and sautéed in fillets small enough to be eaten with chopsticks.’
     • ‘It was a red wine, flavoured with ginger, cinnamon and grains of paradise (a peppery spice from tropical west Africa) and sweetened either with honey or (if you could afford it) with sugar.’
     • ‘The red partner to the white Grillo grape is this smashing and deeply seductive, Syrah-based red heaving with the sort of robust, earthy, tannic, peppery spice that cries out for big January food.’
     • ‘I lit it with a match and inhaled peppery gas strongly.’
     • ‘What goes wrong here is that the bubbles magnify the peppery heat of the spices and your tastebuds may wilt under the attack.’
     • ‘The presence of this peppery spice in his diet should bring health-boosting effects in the long term.’
     • ‘This cheese usually has tangy, piquant, spicy and peppery flavor.’
     • ‘Once in the mouth, elegant and effortless waves of nuts, red fruits and peppery spice roll over the palate and stay long after the finish.’
     • ‘The Cabernet Sauvignon punches above its weight with brambles, dark chocolate, vanilla and peppery spices.’
     • ‘‘The first sensation on the tongue is spicy, or peppery,’ offers Gregory.’
     • ‘The dark green, leafy vegetable has a pungent, peppery flavor.’
     • ‘The initial attack is warm, but not hot, and the tequila immediately fills the mouth with spicy, peppery flavors.’
     • ‘All of these Asian greens are tender and succulent, but flavors vary from mild and clean to sharp and peppery.’
     • ‘It was cold and damp in the lock-up and the sharp, peppery smell of cats filled the Italian's nostrils.’
     • ‘It has small, pointed, dark green aromatic leaves that have a herby, peppery flavour and are delicious in bean and pulse dishes.’
     • ‘His eyes, which are palest aquamarine, are steely, his nose is strong, and he smells all clean and peppery.’
     • ‘In the same vein, we know that real pesto, literally denoting ‘paste’, is a marvellous, heady mix of pounded sweet, peppery basil, sea salt, garlic, cheese, pine nuts and olive oil from Liguria.’
     • ‘Then, for zest, add a snippet or two of something peppery like arugula, mustard, or cress.’

• 2(of a person) irritable and sharp-tongued.

  More example sentences

  • ‘retired generals are expected to be peppery’

  Synonyms

  irritable, peevish, cross, crabbed, crabby, crotchety, cantankerous, hot-tempered, irascible, fiery, quick-tempered, impatient, complaining, querulous, curmudgeonly, bitter, acerbic, sour, caustic, moody, grumpy, huffy, brusque, surly, curt, gruff, scratchy, ill-tempered, bad-tempered, short-tempered, ill-natured, ill-humoured, touchy, sharp-tongued, testy, tetchy, snappish, snarling, waspish, prickly, crusty, bilious, liverish, dyspeptic, splenetic, choleric

  View synonyms