scrumptious

adjective

scrump·​tious ˈskrəm(p)-shəs 

informal

: delightful, excellent

"Whew! What a place! …" said Stalky, filling himself a pipe. "Isn't it scrumptious? …"

—Rudyard Kipling

She has curly red hair and big jolly brown eyes and scrumptious freckles.

—Lucy Maud Montgomery

[Liz] Robbins … has packed her book with scrumptious details.

—Benjamin Cheever

especially : delicious

We were offered such goodies as five styles of eggs, bacon, … and scrumptious pastries.

—Dick Bradley

This inviting farmstead and restaurant is known for its scrumptious apple dishes …

—Parenting

scrumptiously adverb

Standard menu fare includes scrumptiously fluffy eggplant clouds …

—Shira Feder

… a scrumptiously filthy guitar solo burning with taut tones.

—Randall Radic

scrumptiousness noun

… [the recipes] lack the extra touch, the extra effort to lift them to scrumptiousness.

—Cook's Magazine

Did you know?

First appearing in English in the early 1800s, scrumptious is a mouth-watering word that is used to describe things delightful and delectable. It may have originated as an alteration of sumptuous, carrying the elegant connotations of its parent, though this is not certain. The Oxford English Dictionary cites a dialect form of the word used to mean “cheap, stingy” as its earliest use, and posits that it could instead have been formed by combining the verb scrimp, meaning “to be frugal or stingy,” with the adjective suffix -ious. (Scrimption meaning “a tiny amount or pittance” could be a relation.) How could a word with such a meaning lead to the wholly positive scrumptious? The OED points to a similar path taken by the word nice, which began as a word meaning “wanton or lacking restraint” and is now, well, nice. Regardless, scrumptious today is a fun word to say and play around with, a fact apparent to British author Roald Dahl who used the variation scrumdiddlyumptious in his novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Synonyms

• ambrosial
• appetizing
• dainty
• delectable
• delicious
• delish
• flavorful
• flavorsome
• luscious
• lush
• mouthwatering
• palatable
• savory
• savoury
• succulent
• tasteful
• tasty
• toothsome
• toothy
• yummy

Examples of scrumptious in a Sentence

baked a scrumptious chocolate cake

Recent Examples on the Web

From strawberry and cream fruit sandos to a classic egg salad, that simple yet scrumptious bite is similar to that first-sip-of-coffee feeling. —Lauryn Azu, Chicago Tribune, 13 Jan. 2025

Mustard, ketchup and sliced pickles cover the bottom half of that bun as the rest of the scrumptious package is prepared. —Mike Hendricks, Kansas City Star, 2 Jan. 2025

Andy is portrayed with all-singing, all-dancing verve by the frankly inexhaustible Georgie Buckland (impressively making her West End debut), while Nate, a sous-chef, is played with equal all-singing, all-dancing verve by the frankly scrumptious Rhys Whitfield. —Hamish Bowles, Vogue, 6 Dec. 2024

And few patrons might expect a scrumptious ice cream sundae at a Chinese restaurant, which sounds incongruous. —Gary Stern, Forbes, 25 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

perhaps alteration of sumptuous

First Known Use

1830, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

scrumptious

adjective

scrump·​tious ˈskrəm(p)-shəs 

informal

: delightful, excellent

especially : delicious

scrumptiously adverb