zest
zest Lexical Profile
zest Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Great enthusiasm, energy, and eager enjoyment.
"Even in her eighties, she approached every new travel adventure with an infectious zest for life."
The outer colored part of the peel of citrus fruit, scraped or cut off and used as a culinary flavoring.
"The pastry chef stirred a teaspoon of freshly grated lemon zest into the cake batter."
A quality of excitement, piquancy, or lively interest added to an experience or situation.
"The unexpected snowstorm added a little extra zest to our weekend cabin retreat."
• verb
To scrape off the outer colored peel of a citrus fruit for use as flavoring in cooking or baking.
"Be careful to zest only the bright yellow skin of the lemon and avoid the bitter white pith underneath."
• Rhymes for zest
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the late 17th century from French 'zeste', which originally meant the inner membrane dividing the segments of a walnut before coming to refer to a piece of citrus peel used for flavoring.