vegetable oil

IPA/ˈvedʒtəbl ɔɪl/
IPA/ˈvedʒtəbl ɔɪl/

vegetable oil — noun

1. an edible oil from seeds or other plant parts, used for frying, baking, and othe

1.nounA2
Definition

an edible oil from seeds or other plant parts, used for frying, baking, and other food preparation.

Example

Minh heated vegetable oil in the wok before adding the garlic.

heat vegetable oil before frying

Wei checked the label to make sure the soup used vegetable oil.

used as an ingredient label

Common collocations
  • a bottle of vegetable oil
  • heat vegetable oil
  • fry in vegetable oil
  • vegetable oils for baking
Synonyms
  • cooking oil

    a broader everyday label that may include plant oils of many kinds

  • plant oil

    a more technical way to stress that the oil comes from plants

Grammar Patterns

cook with vegetable oil

a bottle of vegetable oil

vegetable oils for baking

Usage Note

Usually uncountable when you mean one amount or bottle of oil. Use the plural vegetable oils when you are comparing types such as soybean, sunflower, and canola.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Vegetable oil is a broad everyday term for edible oils that come from plants. Cooking oil is even wider, because it can also be used when a speaker is not thinking about the source very carefully. Olive oil and canola oil are more specific names for particular kinds of vegetable oil, so they sound better when the recipe depends on flavour or texture. If a label simply says vegetable oil, it usually means a general kitchen oil rather than one named variety. A recipe might ask for vegetable oil to fry onions, but call for olive oil when the dressing should have a stronger taste.

cooking oilolive oilcanola oil

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

This English phrase joins vegetable, meaning relating to plants, with oil. Together they describe an edible oil taken from plant sources rather than from animal fat or petroleum.

First known use

1765

1765, in the meaning defined above