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à la carte. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
à la carte, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
à la carte in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French à la carte (“on the menu; according to the card”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
à la carte (not comparable)
- (food and drink) Allowing selection from a fixed list of individually priced options shown on the menu.
- Antonym: table d'hôte
The restaurant had a huge à la carte menu and four specials that day.
- (by extension) Selective; only choosing what one likes or desires.
- Synonym: cherry-picking
2021 September 6, Gideon Lewis-Kraus, “Can Progressives Be Convinced That Genetics Matters?”, in The New Yorker:When schizophrenia and autism, for example, turned out to be largely heritable, we no longer blamed these disorders on cold or inept mothers. But, for such freighted traits as intelligence, liberals remained understandably anxious and continued to insist that differences—not just on a group level but on an individual one—were merely artifacts of an unequal environment. Conservatives pointed out that an à-la-carte approach to scientific findings was intellectually incoherent.
Translations
Adverb
à la carte (not comparable)
- By ordering individually priced items from the menu.
- 1925-29, Mahadev Desai (translator), M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Part I, chapter xvii:
- There were two divisions in the restaurants I used to visit. One division, which was patronized by fairly well-to-do people, provided any number of courses from which one chose and paid for à la carte, each dinner thus costing from one to two shillings. The other division provided six-penny dinners of three courses with a slice of bread. In my days of strict frugality I usually dined in the second division.
Antonyms
Dutch
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French à la carte (“on the menu; according to the card”).
Pronunciation
Adverb
à la carte
- (Food and drink) allowing selection only from a fixed list of options, typically shown on a menu
- (Food and drink) with each dish priced
- (by extension) from any longlist of options, or even free choice, as opposed to a shortlist
Derived terms
French
Pronunciation
Adverb
à la carte
- (Food and drink) allowing selection only from a fixed list of options, typically shown on a menu
- (Food and drink) with each dish priced
- (by extension) from any longlist of options, or even free choice, as opposed to a shortlist
Descendants
Norwegian Bokmål
Alternative forms
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French à la carte (“on the menu; according to the card”).
Pronunciation
Noun
à la carte m (definite singular à la carten or a la carten, indefinite plural à la carter or a la carter, definite plural à la cartene or a la cartene)
- (cooking) à la carte, allowing selection only from a fixed list of options, typically shown on a menu
1968, Arbeider-Avisa:a la carten ser likedan [ut] år ut og år inn- the a la carte looks the same year in and year out
1972, Gunnar Brinck, Harry Sjøgren, Guide til Europas natteliv, page 134:det er billigere å bestille dagens meny, som som regel består av fire retter, enn a la carte- it is cheaper to order the menu of the day, which usually consists of four dishes, than a la carte
2005, Tove Nilsen, Skrivefest:det var hvite duker og bukkende kelnere og à la carte på spansk- there were white tablecloths and bowing waiters and à la carte in Spanish
- det ble servert en storslagen à la cartemiddag
- a great à la carte dinner was served
Adverb
à la carte
- (cooking) à la carte, allowing selection only from a fixed list of options, typically shown on a menu
1926, Alf B. Bryn, Peter van Heeren gjør hvad der falder ham ind, page 95:jeg [skal] ærlig tilstaa at jeg foretrækker at spise à la carte- I honestly admit that I prefer to eat à la carte
2015 April 18, Dagens Næringsliv:gjestene [på restauranten] kan selv velge om de vil spise à la carte eller hive seg på dagens seksretter til 745 kroner- the guests can choose whether they want to eat à la carte or indulge in today's six-course meal for 745 kroner
- spise à la carte
- eating à la carte
- (cooking) with each dish priced
- (figuratively) from any longlist of options, or even free choice, as opposed to a shortlist
1975, Kirke og kultur:et nær sagt fullstendig à la carte-tilbud i alle studieretninger som faller inn under det videregående skoleverk- an almost complete à la carte offering in all fields of study that falls under the high school system
2015 March 6, Morgenbladet:det [er] heller ikke å anbefale at Norge boikotter deler av EMDs [dvs. Den europeiske menneskerettighetsdomstolens] praksis: en slik a la carte-strategi kan gi inspirasjon til at også andre land unnlater å gjennomføre dommer de ikke liker- nor is it recommended that Norway boycott parts of the EMDs [ie The case law of the European Court of Human Rights: such an a la carte strategy may inspire other countries to refrain from enforcing sentences they do not like
Derived terms
References
Swedish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French à la carte (“on the menu; according to the card”).
Pronunciation
Adverb
à la carte (not comparable)
- (Food and drink) à la carte