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Glite Dictionary
grilled to perfection

grilled to perfection

1 3.2
Cooked over high heat until it has the right taste and texture
  • idiom
translation icon : a la parrilla a la perfección

Examples

  • ...savory beef grilled to perfection.

    Dark Skies (2013)

  • Man alive, there's nothing better... than a hamburger grilled to perfection.

    My Own Private Idaho (1991)

  • Chicken is marinated in a spicy yogurt mixture, then grilled to perfection.

    Blog text (31)

  • I opened my book and stared down at the fancy script: chicken a la king on a bed of rice; sirloin steak, grilled to perfection; broiled red snapper, fresh from the sea.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The chef served a juicy steak that was grilled to perfection.

  • The vegetables were grilled to perfection, retaining their vibrant colors and flavors.

  • At the barbecue, everyone raved about the chicken that was grilled to perfection.

Synonyms

cooked to perfection
vsgrilled to perfection
1 3.0

Food that is prepared exactly right has the best taste and texture

is prepared over direct heat to add smoky taste and ideal texture

Antonyms

underdone
2 3.8

Food that is not cooked enough and is still raw inside

burned
1.0

Food that is overcooked and often tastes bitter

How Grilled

burned
1.0
grilled to perfection
1 3.2
grilled
1 1.0
underdone
2 3.8

Surface Forms

grilled to perfection positive

Morphology

grilled + to + perfection

The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'grilled' (cooked on a grill) combined with the evaluative phrase 'to perfection' (to an ideal degree). The pattern 'X to perfection' is a transparent, cross-linguistically common evaluative construction, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Grilled to perfection comes from the simple scene of a cook watching food over a hot grill: the word grilled shows the cooking on open heat and perfection is the exact moment the outside is browned and the inside is just right. So the clear picture of stopping at that exact moment explains why it means 'cooked exactly right' today.