sorbet
Americannoun
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sorbets
plural
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a frozen dairy-free dessert made with sweetened fruit juice or purée.
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a tart or slightly sweet frozen fruit or vegetable purée, served either between courses to cleanse the palate or as a dessert.
a refreshing beet sorbet.
noun
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a water ice made from fruit juice, egg whites, milk, etc
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a US word for sherbet
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sorbet
First recorded in 1575–85; from French, from Italian sorbetto, from Turkish şerbet “cool drink”; see origin at sherbet
Compare meaning
How does sorbet compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Sorbet is a mushy mix of ice and juice that's eaten as a dessert. Sorbet is especially delicious in summer. Sorbet is a sweet, frozen treat. Unlike ice cream or gelato, it doesn't contain milk or cream, though a well-made sorbet can have a deliciously creamy texture. Sorbet is a French word, and it's pronounced that way too, with a silent t. It comes from the Italian sorbetto, with its roots in the Turkish serbet, which makes clear the relationship between sorbet and its close relative, sherbet.
Vocabulary lists containing sorbet
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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.
See Examples For:
The dark purple berry went global in the early 2000s after it was reinvented as a sweet sorbet, often topped with granola and fruit, and marketed for its antioxidant-rich properties.
From Barron's ● Jan. 28, 2026
Instead, she had walls with “soft sorbet hues,” as one reviewer put it, and other elegant decor designed by her sister, Briony Fitzgerald.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 3, 2025
I love the texture of ‘biting’ into the sorbet and getting that same texture as biting into a fresh pear, unique and unlike any other texture.”
From Salon ● Nov. 17, 2025
After the hummus and seven vegetable salads, the meal unfolded with sweet-and-salty pistachio-dusted halloumi baklava, tender beef shashlik over creamy black-garlic toum, and a guava sorbet sundae.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
Heylmun had the vanilla gelato and the mango sorbet but not before she thought hard about the crème brûlée.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
Dairy still dominates, but plant-based ice cream and sorbets are another growing segment.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2022
In the heat of summer, of course, frozen desserts such as ice pops and sorbets are handy vessels for liquid consumption.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 26, 2022
Lemons show up in our roast chickens to sustain us through winter, and they brighten up our summer in sorbets.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2022
His travels infuse the constantly changing menu of ice creams and sorbets at his light-filled shop, named after his youngest daughter, where Amore makes small batches from scratch.
From Washington Post ● May 12, 2022
I learn that spiced ham is no longer considered just a luncheon meat and that even back issues of Smithsonian can be turned into sorbets.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
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.
