Standard Lemma guide

smorgasbord

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsmɔːɡæs(ˌ)bɔːd/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsmɔːɡəs(ˌ)bɔːd/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsmɜːɡəs(ˌ)bɔːd/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsmɜːɡəʊs(ˌ)bʊəd/
  • Received-Pronunciation: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈsmɔɹɡəsˌbɔɹd/
  • General-American: /ˈʃmɔɹ-/
  • rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)d
  • CMU ARPABET: S M AO1 R G AH0 S B AO2 R D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes; (by extension) any buffet with a wide selection of dishes.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An abundant and diverse collection of things.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: assortment, hodgepodge, medley, miscellany, Whitman's sampler, bouillabaisse, bric-a-brac, catch-all, clamjamfrey, cocktail, rummage, salad, anthology, gallery, congeries, crazyquilt, disjecta membra, farrago, galimatias, gallimaufry, grab bag, horse and rabbit stew, hotchpotch, hotchpot, job lot, jumble, macedoine, melange, mingle-mangle, miscellanea, mishmash, mixed bag, mixture, motley, odds and ends, oddments, olio, olla podrida, omnium-gatherum, pastiche, patchwork quilt, potpourri, ragbag, salmagundi, slurry, smorgasbord, welter

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

an assortment of foods starting with herring or smoked eel or salmon etc with bread and butter; then cheeses and eggs and pickled vegetables and aspics; finally hot foods; served as a buffet meal

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: buffet

4

noun

Meaning 4

a collection containing a variety of sorts of things

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a great assortment of cars was on display
  • he had a variety of disorders
  • a veritable smorgasbord of religions

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: assortment, mixture, mixed bag, miscellany, miscellanea, variety, salmagundi, potpourri, motley

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: collection, aggregation, accumulation, assemblage

Narrower terms: grab bag, witches' brew, witches' broth, witch's brew, range, selection, odds and ends, oddments, melange, farrago, ragbag, mishmash, mingle-mangle, hodgepodge, hotchpotch, gallimaufry, omnium-gatherum, alphabet soup, sampler

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Swedish smörgåsbord (“buffet with many small dishes; smorgasbord”), from smörgås (“sandwich”) + bord (“table”). Smörgås is from Swedish smör (“butter”) + gås (“goose”), a reference to pieces of butter which float to the surface of milk when churned.

Across languages

Translations

76 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: շվեդական սեղան (švedakan seġan) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Belarusian: шве́дскі стол (švjédski stol) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Bulgarian: шве́дска ма́са (švédska mása) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Chinese Mandarin: 自助餐 (zìzhùcān) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Czech: švédský stůl — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Danish: kolde bord — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Dutch: smörgåsbord — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Esperanto: bufedo — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Estonian: külmlaud — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Estonian: rootsi laud — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Estonian: suupistete laud — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Finnish: noutopöytä — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Finnish: pitopöytä — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Finnish: seisova pöytä — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Finnish: seisovapöytä — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Finnish: voileipäpöytä — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • French: buffet — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • French: smörgåsbord — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Georgian: სასუსნავი (sasusnavi) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • German: Smörgåsbord — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • German: skandinavisches Büfett — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • German: kaltes Büfett auf skandinavische Art — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Hebrew: מִזְנוֹן (miznón) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Hebrew: סְמֵרְגוֹסְבּוּרְד (smergosbúrd) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Hungarian: svédasztal — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Icelandic: hlaðborð — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Italian: rinfresco — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Italian: buffè svedese — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Italian: buffet svedese — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Japanese: バイキング料理 (Baikingu ryōri) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Japanese: バイキング (Baikingu) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Japanese: スモーガスボード (sumōgasubōdo) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Kazakh: шведтік дастарқан (şvedtık dastarqan) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Kazakh: салқын үстел (salqyn üstel) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Korean: 무한리필 (muhallipil) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Korean: 뷔페 (bwipe) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Korean: 스뫼르고스보르드 (seumoereugoseuboreudeu) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Latvian: zviedru galds — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Lithuanian: švediškas stalas — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Macedonian: шведска маса (švedska masa) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kaldtbord — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Norwegian Bokmål: koldtbord — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Polish: bufet szwedzki — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Polish: szwedzki stół — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Polish: bufet — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Russian: шве́дский стол (švédskij stol) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Russian: фурше́т (furšét) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Serbo-Croatian: шве̏дскӣ сто̑л — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Serbo-Croatian: шве̏дскӣ сто̑ — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Serbo-Croatian: švȅdskī stȏl — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Serbo-Croatian: švȅdskī stȏ — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Sicilian: buffettu — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Slovak: švédsky stôl — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Spanish: tapas suecas — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Spanish: smórgasbord — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Spanish: bufet sueco — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Swedish: smörgåsbord — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Thai: บุฟเฟต์ (búp-fêe) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Ukrainian: шве́дський стіл (švédsʹkyj stil) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Ukrainian: фурше́т (furšét) — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Veps: bufetlaud — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Veps: ročilaine laud — Swedish-style buffet comprising a variety of cold sandwiches and other dishes — see also buffet
  • Chinese Mandarin: 豐富集合 /丰富集合 (fēngfù jíhé) — diverse collection of things
  • Dutch: keur — diverse collection of things
  • Dutch: garnituur — diverse collection of things
  • Dutch: assortiment — diverse collection of things
  • Finnish: lajitelma — diverse collection of things
  • Finnish: valikoima — diverse collection of things
  • German: kunterbunte Mischung — diverse collection of things
  • German: Sammelsurium — diverse collection of things
  • Italian: ampia scelta — diverse collection of things
  • Italian: varietà — diverse collection of things
  • Polish: szeroki asortyment — diverse collection of things
  • Spanish: surtido — diverse collection of things
  • Spanish: abanico — diverse collection of things
  • Swedish: smörgåsbord — diverse collection of things