Taste vs. Try — What's the Difference?
By Fiza Rafique & Urooj Arif — Updated on April 4, 2024
Taste involves experiencing flavor through the sense of taste, often to enjoy or evaluate. Try encompasses making an attempt or effort to do something, not limited to sensory experience.
Difference Between Taste and Try
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Taste primarily refers to the sensory experience of determining flavors using the tongue, often in the context of food and drink. It is a direct interaction with the substance being tasted, focusing on the nuances of flavor, aroma, and texture. Whereas, try is a broader term that implies an attempt or effort to accomplish a task, solve a problem, or engage in an activity. It does not inherently involve the senses in a direct manner.
When you taste something, you're engaging in a sensory activity that allows you to assess, enjoy, or critique the flavor profile of what you're consuming. This action is subjective, heavily influenced by individual preference and perception. On the other hand, when you try something, it can be any activity or task, ranging from trying a new hobby, trying to solve a mathematical problem, to trying on clothes. It's about the effort or the attempt, regardless of the outcome.
Tasting often requires a certain level of discernment and can be used in professional contexts, such as by chefs, food critics, or sommeliers, to evaluate the quality and characteristics of food and beverages. Whereas, trying can involve a learning process, experimentation, or practice, with the aim of achieving proficiency, solving a problem, or making a decision based on the trial.
Taste can also denote a preference or inclination towards something, such as having a taste for luxury, which is about appreciation and liking. On the other hand, try suggests a proactive stance towards experiencing, learning, or doing something new or challenging, often without a guarantee of success or immediate satisfaction.
While taste is focused on the sensory experience and subjective enjoyment or evaluation of food and drink, try encompasses a wide range of efforts and attempts across various activities, not limited to sensory experiences.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
Sensory experience of flavor
Attempt or effort to do something
Context
Often related to food and drink
Broad, applies to any activity or task
Purpose
Evaluate, enjoy, or critique flavor
Achieve, learn, or solve something
Outcome
Subjective experience
Not guaranteed, focused on effort
Professional Use
Chefs, sommeliers, food critics
Broad, across various fields
Compare with Definitions
Taste
Experiencing or perceiving flavor through the sense of taste.
She could taste the subtle hint of cinnamon in the dessert.
Try
Making an attempt or effort to do something.
She will try to finish the project by tomorrow.
Taste
Engaging with food or drink to evaluate its flavor.
The sommelier tasted the wine to assess its quality.
Try
Attempting something new or different to see the outcome.
They decided to try a new marketing strategy.
Taste
The pleasure derived from flavors.
They tasted the various cheeses, enjoying each unique flavor.
Try
Attempting to engage in an activity to gain knowledge or pleasure.
They tried skiing for the first time on their vacation.
Taste
Having a particular liking for certain flavors or types of food.
He has a taste for spicy food.
Try
The act of attempting to accomplish a task.
He tried his best to solve the problem.
Taste
Evaluating the quality of food or drink based on its flavor.
The chef tasted the soup to ensure it had the right balance of spices.
Try
Evaluating something through use or application.
I'll try this software to see if it meets our needs.
Taste
The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste (flavor). Taste is the perception produced or stimulated when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor cells located on taste buds in the oral cavity, mostly on the tongue.
Try
Make an attempt or effort to do something
I started to try and untangle the mystery
I decided to try writing fiction
He tried to regain his breath
Three times he tried the manoeuvre and three times he failed
Taste
The sensation of flavour perceived in the mouth and throat on contact with a substance
The wine had a fruity taste
Try
Subject (someone) to trial
He was arrested and tried for the murder
Taste
A person's liking for particular flavours
This pudding is too sweet for my taste
Try
Smooth (roughly planed wood) with a plane to give an accurately flat surface.
Taste
The ability to discern what is of good quality or of a high aesthetic standard
She has frightful taste in literature
Try
Extract (oil or fat) by heating
Some of the fat may be tried out and used
Taste
Perceive or experience the flavour of
She had never tasted ice cream before
Try
An effort to accomplish something; an attempt
He got his membership card on his third try
Taste
Have experience of
The team has not yet tasted victory at home
Try
An act of touching the ball down behind the opposing goal line, scoring points and entitling the scoring side to a kick at goal.
Taste
To distinguish the flavor of by taking into the mouth.
Try
To make an effort to do or accomplish (something); attempt
Tried to ski.
Taste
To eat or drink a small quantity of.
Try
To taste, sample, or otherwise test in order to determine strength, effect, worth, or desirability
Try this casserole.
Taste
To partake of, especially for the first time; experience
Prisoners finally tasting freedom.
Try
To make an effort to open (a closed door or window).
Taste
(Archaic) To appreciate or enjoy.
Try
To conduct the trial of (a legal claim)
To try a negligence case.
Taste
To distinguish flavors in the mouth.
Try
To put (an accused person) on trial.
Taste
To have a distinct flavor
The stew tastes salty.
Try
To subject to great strain or hardship; tax
The last steep ascent tried my every muscle.
Taste
To eat or drink a small amount.
Try
To melt (lard, for example) to separate out impurities; render.
Taste
To have experience or enjoyment; partake
Tasted of the life of the very rich.
Try
To make an effort; strive
I know it's not easy, but keep trying!.
Taste
The sense that distinguishes the sweet, sour, salty, and bitter qualities of dissolved substances in contact with the taste buds on the tongue.
Try
An attempt; an effort.
Taste
This sense in combination with the senses of smell and touch, which together receive a sensation of a substance in the mouth.
Try
(Sports) In rugby, an act of advancing the ball past the opponent's goal line and grounding it there for a score of three points.
Taste
The sensation of sweet, sour, salty, or bitter qualities produced by a substance placed in the mouth.
Try
To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.
I tried to rollerblade, but I couldn’t.
I'll come to dinner soon. I'm trying to beat this level first.
Taste
The unified sensation produced by any of these qualities plus a distinct smell and texture; flavor.
Try
(obsolete) To divide; to separate.
Taste
A distinctive perception as if by the sense of taste
An experience that left a bad taste in my mouth.
Try
To separate (precious metal etc.) from the ore by melting; to purify, refine.
Taste
The act of tasting.
Try
(one sort from another) To winnow; to sift; to pick out; frequently followed by out.
To try out the wild corn from the good
Taste
A small quantity eaten or tasted.
Try
(nautical) To extract oil from blubber or fat; to melt down blubber to obtain oil
Taste
A limited or first experience; a sample
"Thousands entered the war, got just a taste of it, and then stepped out" (Mark Twain).
Try
To extract wax from a honeycomb
Taste
A personal preference or liking
A taste for adventure.
A play that was not to my taste.
Try
To test, to work out.
Taste
The ability to recognize and appreciate what is beautiful, excellent, or appropriate
Has good taste in clothes.
Try
To make an experiment. Usually followed by a present participle.
I tried mixing more white paint to get a lighter shade.
Taste
The sense of what is proper, seemly, or least likely to give offense in a given social situation
A remark made in bad taste.
Try
To put to test.
I shall try my skills on this.
Taste
(Obsolete) The act of testing; trial.
Try
(specifically) To test someone's patience.
You are trying my patience.
Don't try me.
Taste
One of the sensations produced by the tongue in response to certain chemicals; the quality of giving this sensation.
He had a strange taste in his mouth.
Venison has a strong taste.
Try
To receive an imminent attack; to take.
Taste
The sense that consists in the perception and interpretation of this sensation.
His taste was impaired by an illness.
Try
To taste, sample, etc.
Oh, you need to try the soup of the day!
Taste
A small sample of food, drink, or recreational drugs.
Try
To prove by experiment; to apply a test to, for the purpose of determining the quality; to examine; to prove; to test.
To try weights or measures by a standard;
To try a person's opinions
Taste
A person's implicit set of preferences, especially esthetic, though also culinary, sartorial, etc.
Dr. Parker has good taste in wine.
Try
(with indirect interrogative clause) To attempt to determine (by experiment or effort).
I'll try whether I can make it across town on foot.
Taste
Personal preference; liking; predilection.
I have developed a taste for fine wine.
Try
(legal) To put on trial.
He was tried and executed.
Taste
A small amount of experience with something that gives a sense of its quality as a whole.
Such anecdotes give one a taste of life on a trauma ward.
Try
To experiment, to strive.
Taste
A kind of narrow and thin silk ribbon.
Try
To have or gain knowledge of by experience.
Taste
(transitive) To sample the flavor of something orally.
Try
To work on something with one's best effort and focus.
Dad, for fuck's sake, I'm trying my best!
You are trying too hard.
Taste
To have a taste; to excite a particular sensation by which flavor is distinguished.
The chicken tasted great, but the milk tasted like garlic.
Try
(obsolete) To do; to fare.
How do you try! (i.e., how do you do?)
Taste
(transitive) To identify (a flavor) by sampling something orally.
I can definitely taste the marzipan in this cake.
Try
To settle; to decide; to determine; specifically, to decide by an appeal to arms.
To try rival claims by a duel;
To try conclusions
Taste
To experience.
I tasted in her arms the delights of paradise.
They had not yet tasted the sweetness of freedom.
Try
To attempt to conceive a child.
Taste
To take sparingly.
Try
(nautical) To lie to in heavy weather under just sufficient sail to head into the wind.
Taste
To try by eating a little; to eat a small quantity of.
Try
To strain; to subject to excessive tests.
The light tries his eyes.
Repeated failures try one's patience.
Taste
(obsolete) To try by the touch; to handle.
Try
To want
I am really not trying to hear you talk about my mama like that.
Taste
To try by the touch; to handle; as, to taste a bow.
Taste it well and stone thou shalt it find.
Try
An attempt.
I gave unicycling a try but I couldn’t do it.
Taste
To try by eating a little; to eat a small quantity of.
I tasted a little of this honey.
Try
An act of tasting or sampling.
I gave sushi a try but I didn’t like it.
Taste
To become acquainted with by actual trial; to essay; to experience; to undergo.
He . . . should taste death for every man.
Try
(rugby) A score in rugby league and rugby union, analogous to a touchdown in American football.
Today I scored my first try.
Taste
To partake of; to participate in; - usually with an implied sense of relish or pleasure.
Thou . . . wilt tasteNo pleasure, though in pleasure, solitary.
Try
A screen, or sieve, for grain.
Taste
To try food with the mouth; to eat or drink a little only; to try the flavor of anything; as, to taste of each kind of wine.
Try
(American football) A field goal or extra point
Taste
To have a smack; to excite a particular sensation, by which the specific quality or flavor is distinguished; to have a particular quality or character; as, this water tastes brackish; the milk tastes of garlic.
Yea, every idle, nice, and wanton reasonShall to the king taste of this action.
Try
(chess) A move that almost solves a chess problem, except that Black has a unique defense.
Taste
To take sparingly.
For age but tastes of pleasures, youth devours.
Try
(obsolete) Fine, excellent.
Taste
To have perception, experience, or enjoyment; to partake; as, to taste of nature's bounty.
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Try
To divide or separate, as one sort from another; to winnow; to sift; to pick out; - frequently followed by out; as, to try out the wild corn from the good.
Taste
The act of tasting; gustation.
Try
To purify or refine, as metals; to melt out, and procure in a pure state, as oil, tallow, lard, etc.
The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
Taste
A particular sensation excited by the application of a substance to the tongue; the quality or savor of any substance as perceived by means of the tongue; flavor; as, the taste of an orange or an apple; a bitter taste; an acid taste; a sweet taste.
Try
To prove by experiment; to apply a test to, for the purpose of determining the quality; to examine; to prove; to test; as, to try weights or measures by a standard; to try a man's opinions.
Let the end try the man.
Taste
The one of the five senses by which certain properties of bodies (called their taste, savor, flavor) are ascertained by contact with the organs of taste.
Try
To subject to severe trial; to put to the test; to cause suffering or trouble to.
Thus far to try thee, Adam, I was pleased.
These are the times that try men's souls.
Taste
Intellectual relish; liking; fondness; - formerly with of, now with for; as, he had no taste for study.
I have no tasteOf popular applause.
Try
To experiment with; to test by use; as, to try a remedy for disease; to try a horse.
Come, try upon yourselves what you have seen me.
To ease her cares the force of sleep she tries.
Taste
The power of perceiving and relishing excellence in human performances; the faculty of discerning beauty, order, congruity, proportion, symmetry, or whatever constitutes excellence, particularly in the fine arts and belles-letters; critical judgment; discernment.
Try
To strain; to subject to excessive tests; as, the light tries his eyes; repeated disappointments try one's patience.
Taste
Manner, with respect to what is pleasing, refined, or in accordance with good usage; style; as, music composed in good taste; an epitaph in bad taste.
Try
To examine or investigate judicially; to examine by witnesses or other judicial evidence and the principles of law; as, to try a cause, or a criminal.
Taste
Essay; trial; experience; experiment.
Try
To settle; to decide; to determine; specifically, to decide by an appeal to arms; as, to try rival claims by a duel; to try conclusions.
Left I the court, to see this quarrel tried.
Taste
A small portion given as a specimen; a little piece tasted or eaten; a bit.
Try
To experience; to have or gain knowledge of by experience.
Or try the Libyan heat or Scythian cold.
Taste
A kind of narrow and thin silk ribbon.
What, then, is taste, but those internal powers,Active and strong, and feelingly aliveTo each fine impulse? a discerning senseOf decent and sublime, with quick disgustFrom things deformed, or disarranged, or grossIn species? This, nor gems, nor stores of gold,Nor purple state, nor culture, can bestow,But God alone, when first his active handImprints the secret bias of the soul.
Try
To essay; to attempt; to endeavor.
Let us try . . . to found a path.
He first deceased: she for a little triedTo live without him; liked it not, and died.
Alack, I am afraid they have a waked,And 't is not done. The attempt, and not the deed,Confounds us.
Taste
The sensation that results when taste buds in the tongue and throat convey information about the chemical composition of a soluble stimulus;
The candy left him with a bad taste
The melon had a delicious taste
Try
To exert strength; to endeavor; to make an effort or an attempt; as, you must try hard if you wish to learn.
Taste
A strong liking;
My own preference is for good literature
The Irish have a penchant for blarney
Try
To do; to fare; as, how do you try!
Taste
Delicate discrimination (especially of aesthetic values);
Arrogance and lack of taste contributed to his rapid success
To ask at that particular time was the ultimate in bad taste
Try
A screen, or sieve, for grain.
Taste
A brief experience of something;
He got a taste of life on the wild side
She enjoyed her brief taste of independence
Try
Act of trying; attempt; experiment; trial.
This breaking of his has been but a try for his friends.
Taste
A small amount eaten or drunk;
Take a taste--you'll like it
Try
In Rugby and Northern Union football, a score (counting three points) made by grounding the ball on or behind the opponent's goal line; - so called because it entitles the side making it to a place kick for a goal (counting two points more if successful).
Taste
The faculty of taste;
His cold deprived him of his sense of taste
Try
Refined; select; excellent; choice.
Taste
A kind of sensing; distinguishing substances by means of the taste buds;
A wine tasting
Try
Earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something;
Made an effort to cover all the reading material
Wished him luck in his endeavor
She gave it a good try
Taste
Have flavor; taste of something
Try
Make an effort or attempt;
He tried to shake off his fears
The infant had essayed a few wobbly steps
The police attempted to stop the thief
He sought to improve himself
She always seeks to do good in the world
Taste
Take a sample of;
Try these new crackers
Sample the regional dishes
Try
Put to the test, as for its quality, or give experimental use to;
This approach has been tried with good results
Test this recipe
Taste
Perceive by the sense of taste;
Can you taste the garlic?
Try
Put on trial or hear a case and sit as the judge at the trial of;
The football star was tried for the murder of his wife
The judge tried both father and son in separate trials
Taste
Have a distinctive or characteristic taste;
This tastes of nutmeg
Try
Take a sample of;
Try these new crackers
Sample the regional dishes
Taste
Distinguish flavors;
We tasted wines last night
Try
Examine or hear (evidence or a case) by judicial process;
The jury had heard all the evidence
The case will be tried in California
Taste
Experience briefly;
The ex-slave tasted freedom shortly before she died
Try
Give pain or trouble to;
I've been sorely tried by these students
Try
Test the limits of;
You are trying my patience!
Try
Melt (fat, lard, etc.) in order to separate out impurities;
Try the yak butter
Render fat in a casserole
Try
Put on a garment in order to see whether it fits and looks nice;
Try on this sweater to see how it looks
Common Curiosities
Is trying something always related to success?
No, trying focuses on the effort made, regardless of the outcome or success.
What does it mean to try in the context of activities?
It means to make an effort or attempt to do, accomplish, or experience something.
How does professional tasting differ from casual tasting?
Professional tasting involves a critical evaluation of flavors for quality assessment, while casual tasting focuses on personal enjoyment.
Can you try something without having a specific goal?
Yes, trying something can be exploratory, without a defined goal, for the sake of experience or learning.
How does taste contribute to culinary experiences?
Taste is fundamental to culinary experiences, determining the enjoyment and preference for certain dishes or ingredients.
Can trying be applied to solving problems?
Yes, trying is often used in problem-solving, where different methods are attempted to find a solution.
What does it mean to taste something?
To experience or perceive the flavor of something through the sense of taste.
Can taste be subjective?
Yes, taste is highly subjective and varies from person to person.
How can trying new things benefit an individual?
Trying new things can lead to personal growth, new skills, and broader experiences.
How do taste preferences change over time?
Taste preferences can change due to exposure to new flavors, changes in health, or shifts in cultural influences.
Is there a connection between taste and culture?
Yes, taste preferences can be strongly influenced by cultural background and traditions.
Can trying too hard be counterproductive?
Yes, in some cases, trying too hard can lead to burnout or discourage creativity and spontaneity.
Is it possible to try new flavors?
Yes, trying new flavors involves experimenting with different foods or drinks to expand one’s palate.
Do professionals rely on taste for product development?
Yes, professionals in food and beverage industries rely heavily on taste for product development and quality control.
Is the willingness to try new things a personality trait?
Yes, openness to experience, including the willingness to try new things, is considered a personality trait.
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Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
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Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
