Use starch for the plant carbohydrate itself, for foods rich in it, and for its role as a cooking thickener.
Use starch for the plant carbohydrate itself, for foods rich in it, and for its role as a cooking thickener.
| Incorrect | Correct |
| Starch are stored in potatoes. | Starch is stored in potatoes. |
| Sugar is the starch in candy. | Sugar is a simple carbohydrate, not starch. |
| Add starches to thicken the sauce. | Add starch to thicken the sauce. |
Use starch for the laundry product or treatment that gives shirts, collars, napkins, and uniforms a crisp finish.
| Incorrect | Correct |
| Use starch to remove the stain. | Use detergent to remove the stain. |
| The collar needs more bleach to stand up. | The collar needs more starch to stand up. |
| I sprayed cornstarch on the shirt before ironing. | I sprayed laundry starch on the shirt before ironing. |
Use starch figuratively when the point is cold, crisp formality rather than ordinary politeness or discipline.
| Incorrect | Correct |
| The deadline had a lot of starch. | The deadline was strict. |
| Her starchy made the meeting tense. | Her starch made the meeting tense. |
| The host showed starch by smiling warmly. | The host showed starch by staying stiffly formal. |
Use starch in this informal sense for personal drive or backbone, often in phrases about having or putting starch into someone.
| Incorrect | Correct |
| The coach put starch in the sauce before the game. | The coach put starch into the team before the game. |
| She has no starch, so her shirt is wrinkled. | She has no starch, so she gives up too easily. |
| The speech had starch because it listed carbohydrates. | The speech had starch because it sounded forceful. |
Use starch for applying starch to fabric, and use the figurative extension when something is made stiff or formal.
| Incorrect | Correct |
| She starch the collars every week. | She starches the collars every week. |
| They starch the napkins yesterday. | They starched the napkins yesterday. |
| Starch the soup until it tastes sweeter. | Thicken the soup with starch if it is too thin. |
Use starch as an adjective only in the rare formal-person sense, and prefer starchy when a more familiar adjective is needed.
| Incorrect | Correct |
| The starch made him aunt strict. | His starch aunt was strict. |
| The waiter was starch of manners. | The waiter was stiff in manner. |
| A starch sauce covered the pasta. | A starchy sauce covered the pasta. |
Use starch first for the plant carbohydrate or laundry stiffener, and rely on context for the figurative senses of formality, vigor, stiffening, or a stiff person.
Starch are is wrong for the mass noun, and figurative starch should not replace every word for strictness, energy, or formality.
The verb appears in late Middle English for stiffening with starch and is tied to Old English forms meaning make rigid. The noun first named a paste used to stiffen or whiten cloth, then the plant carbohydrate used in food.
What does starch mean in food?
Starch is a plant carbohydrate made of linked glucose, common in potatoes, rice, corn, wheat, and other staple foods.
Is starch the same as sugar?
No. Starch is a complex carbohydrate made from many glucose units, while table sugar is a smaller sweet carbohydrate.
What is laundry starch?
Laundry starch is a powder, spray, or liquid used before ironing to make cloth crisp and help it hold its shape.
Can starch be a verb?
Yes. To starch a shirt, collar, or napkin is to treat it with starch so it becomes crisp or stiff.
What does figurative starch mean?
Figurative starch can mean stiff formality, informal vigor, or the act of making language or behavior rigidly formal.
Can starch be an adjective?
Yes, but it is rare. Adjective starch means formal or stiff, especially of a person, and starchy is usually more natural.
Where does starch come from?
Starch is tied to older Germanic words for stiffness. Its cloth-stiffening sense came before the modern food chemistry sense.