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Glite Dictionary
🥩 Strong taste 😏 Slightly shocking
gamey

gamey

3 7.6
A strong meat taste that is slightly wild or spoiled
  • adjective
  • /ˈɡeɪmi/
translation icon : sabor fuerte
  • It was like nothing he had ever smelled before, an invisible steam, thick and gamey.
  • gamey meat
  • gamey taste
  • gamey flavor

Definitely, like gamier, heavier and like a deeper flavor.

Examples

  • The duck is gamey, meaty, fatty and rich.

  • It's too gamey for me.

    Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

  • It's too gamey for my taste.

    Eat Locals (2017)

  • It's so gamey, and I don't mean that in like a positive sense.

  • While I like a strong gamey taste with my lamb, this had a very clean and delicate flavor that I really enjoyed.

    Blog text (29)

  • There's also a salty, gamey thing going on.

    The Secret Life of Pets (2016)

  • The smell is gamey.

    Blog text (4)

  • Many people find the taste of duck to be too gamey for their liking.

  • Some chefs appreciate the gamey flavor of wild game meat, while others prefer milder options.

  • After cooking, the venison had a strong, gamey smell that filled the kitchen.

Synonyms

smelly
vsgamey
118 1.0

Giving off a strong, unpleasant stink

is specific to meat flavor or smell and often slightly spoiled
stinky
vsgamey
  • Informal
26 3.8

Very bad or of poor quality

is a meat taste that is strong and sometimes only slightly spoiled
high
vsgamey
  • UK
26 9.1

Having a very bad smell because it has gone rotten

is more about wild distinctive flavor and not always spoiled
gamy
vsgamey
  • UK
9.9

A strong, unpleasant smell that shows meat is spoiled

is a strong distinctive meat taste that may be only slightly spoiled
gamelike
vsgamey
7.7

Having the strong taste or smell of meat from wild animals

focuses on a strong sometimes off smell rather than wild similarity

Antonyms

fresh
778 1.0

Recently made or gathered food that is not spoiled

palatable
31 4.9

Pleasant to taste or acceptable to most people

How Strong

strong
∞ 1.0
pungent
18 4.8
gamey
3 7.6
flavorful
  • US
18 2.3
mild
107 1.0

Surface Forms

gamey positive
gamier comparative
gamiest superlative

Morphology

gamey = game (semi-transparent) = game + y

The adjective is built from 'game' + '-y', but the culinary meaning refers specifically to the smell or taste associated with game meat, which is only partly predictable.

Etymology

Gamey comes from game, the word for wild animals and their meat, and it was used for the strong taste of that meat. So gamey meat has a strong or 'wild' smell or flavor.