vanilla
Americannoun
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any tropical, climbing orchid of the genus Vanilla, especially V. planifolia, bearing podlike fruit yielding an extract used in flavoring food, in perfumery, etc.
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Also called vanilla bean. the fruit or bean of this orchid.
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the extract of this fruit.
adjective
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containing or flavored with vanilla.
vanilla custard.
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Informal. plain vanilla.
noun
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any tropical climbing orchid of the genus Vanilla, esp V. plonifolia, having spikes of large fragrant greenish-yellow flowers and long fleshy pods containing the seeds (beans)
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the pod or bean of certain of these plants, used to flavour food, etc
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a flavouring extract prepared from vanilla beans and used in cooking
adjective
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flavoured with or as if with vanilla
vanilla ice cream
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slang ordinary or conventional
a vanilla kind of guy
Etymology
Origin of vanilla
1655–65; < New Latin < Spanish vainilla little pod, equivalent to vain ( a ) a sheath (< Latin vāgīna sheath) + -illa diminutive suffix (< LL)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The company also saw momentum in its relatively new Vita Coco Treats category, which includes flavors like strawberries and cream, cherry vanilla, and lemonade.
From Barron's
I opted for the classics: onion soup, retro vol-au-vent overflowing with mushrooms and, for dessert, an île flottante heady with vanilla and caramel.
Despite the heavy breathing, Heathcliff and Catherine’s chemistry is pretty vanilla.
From Los Angeles Times
A nurse stood beside him, holding a tray containing a cup of clear broth, a bowl of red Jell-O, and some vanilla yogurt.
From Literature
The court heard Nath - after realising he had been "rumbled" - threw the bottle of Madagascar vanilla extract into a toilet cistern but it was later recovered by police.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
