roasted

roasted — verb

1. To prepare food by applying dry heat inside an oven or directly above burning wo

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveA2
Definition

To prepare food by applying dry heat inside an oven or directly above burning wood or coals, often with a little oil so the surface turns brown and the inside becomes soft and ready to eat.

Example

Min roasted a whole chicken with potatoes and carrots for Sunday dinner.

roast + [food] + with + [side dishes]

The lamb needs to roast for about two hours at 180 degrees.

intransitive use with needs to + infinitive

Common collocations
  • roast a chicken
  • roast vegetables
  • roast beef
  • roast potatoes
  • roast lamb
  • roast in the oven
  • roast over a fire
Synonyms
  • bake

    similar dry-heat cooking but used for bread, cakes, and pastries without added oil

  • grill

    cooks food on a metal surface over direct heat, not inside an enclosed oven

Antonyms
  • boil

    cooks in hot water rather than dry heat

  • steam

    cooks with hot vapour above boiling water

Grammar Patterns

roast + noun phrase (food)

roast for + time period

roast at + temperature

Usage Note

Roast is the usual verb for cooking meat and large vegetables with oil. For bread, cakes, and pastries, use bake instead.

Common Mistakes

She roasted a cake for my birthday.
She baked a cake for my birthday.
roast is for meat and vegetables with oil; bake is for bread, cakes, and pastries.

2. To heat coffee beans, nuts, seeds, or grains in a dry pan or oven until they tur

2.verbtransitiveB1
Definition

To heat coffee beans, nuts, seeds, or grains in a dry pan or oven until they turn brown, become drier, and develop a stronger flavour.

Example

The coffee company roasts its beans in small batches to ensure freshness.

roast + [beans] + in + [quantity/process]

Trang roasted the peanuts in a dry pan until they smelled nutty and warm.

Common collocations
  • roast coffee beans
  • roasted nuts
  • roast sesame seeds
  • roast almonds
  • roast peanuts
  • roast in a dry pan
  • roast in the oven
Synonyms
  • toast

    used for bread, nuts, or seeds under direct heat; lighter than roasting

  • brown

    describes the colour change but not the full cooking process

Grammar Patterns

roast + noun phrase (nuts/beans/seeds)

roast + [ingredient] + in + [utensil]

roast + [ingredient] + until + [result]

Usage Note

The degree of roasting for coffee beans is described as light, medium, or dark, which affects the flavour and strength of the brewed coffee.

Common Mistakes

She fried the coffee beans in oil.
She roasted the coffee beans in a dry pan.
roasting uses dry heat without oil or water.

3. To criticize someone or something very severely and often angrily, usually in a

3.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

To criticize someone or something very severely and often angrily, usually in a public or direct way.

Example

The manager roasted the team for missing the project deadline by three weeks.

roast + [person/group] + for + [reason]

Critics roasted the director's latest film, calling it boring and poorly acted.

Common collocations
  • roasted by critics
  • roast someone for [reason]
  • get roasted
  • roast the government
  • roast a film
Synonyms
  • criticize

    neutral and formal; does not carry the emotional intensity of roast

  • condemn

    stronger and more formal; often used for moral or legal disapproval

  • lambaste

    similar in intensity but less common in everyday speech

Antonyms
  • praise

    to express warm approval of someone or something

Grammar Patterns

roast + [person/group] + for + [reason]

get roasted for + [reason]

Usage Note

This is an informal, figurative sense. The criticism is genuinely harsh or angry, unlike the humorous, affectionate teasing in sense 4 (COMEDY ROAST).

Common Mistakes

The comedian roasted the actor at his birthday party, and the actor felt hurt.' (if the event was a comedy roast)
Use sense 4 for friendly teasing events.
sense 3 is genuinely angry criticism; sense 4 is affectionate humour.

4. To playfully tease a well-known individual during a special event held in their

4.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

To playfully tease a well-known individual during a special event held in their honour, where the jokes are friendly, expected, and meant to celebrate rather than offend.

Example

The comedy club roasted the retiring actor with hilarious stories from their long career.

roast + [person] + with + [humorous material]

At the charity dinner, several comedians roasted the mayor in a good-natured way.

Common collocations
  • roast at an event
  • roast someone for laughs
  • roast jokes
  • comedy roast
  • celebrity roast
  • getting roasted
Synonyms
  • tease

    lighter, can be used in any informal setting without the structure of a formal event

  • poke fun at

    less intense; can be done at any time, not at a planned event

Grammar Patterns

roast + [person] + at + [event]

roast + [person] + with + [humorous content]

get roasted

Usage Note

This sense refers to a specific American tradition called a roast, where speakers tease the guest of honour affectionately. The person being roasted knows the jokes are meant in good fun and usually laughs along. Distinguish from sense 3 (CRITICIZE HARSHLY), which describes real anger.

Common Mistakes

She roasted her colleague for making a mistake, and everyone laughed.' (ambiguous — could be angry or playful)
She roasted her boss at the farewell party, telling funny stories about his terrible cooking.
adds context showing it is affectionate and part of a celebration.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Roast, bake, grill, and broil are all dry-heat cooking methods, but they differ in equipment and technique. Roast refers to cooking meat or vegetables in an oven or over a fire with a little oil, so the outside browns and the inside stays tender — for example, roasting a chicken or potatoes. Bake is used for bread, cakes, and pastries, which cook in an oven without added oil or fat. Grill means to cook food on a metal surface over direct heat, often outdoors, leaving visible marks on the surface. Broil (chiefly American) uses intense heat from above inside an oven, ideal for melting cheese or browning the top of a dish quickly. Choose roast for whole pieces of meat and hearty vegetables, bake for flour-based items, grill for quick outdoor cooking, and broil for fast top-down browning.

roast ↗bake ↗grill ↗broil

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • roast in the oven
  • roast over a fire
  • roast at 180 degrees
  • roast for two hours

Prepositions

Etymology

Proto-GermanicFrankishOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

The verb roast entered English through Old French rostir (to roast), which came from a Frankish (Germanic) word *hraustjan meaning to cook on a gridiron or over embers. This Germanic root is related to Old High German rōsten and German rösten. The word has been used for cooking since the 1200s, and the figurative senses (criticize harshly, humorously tease) developed in American English in the 1800s and 1900s.