plural delis
: a store where ready-to-eat food products (such as cooked meats and prepared salads) are sold : delicatessen
You shuffle off to the deli and pick up a pastrami-on-rye and an egg cream. The bald man behind the counter whistles cheerfully as he slices the meat.—
Jay McInerney
Jay McInerneySixth Avenue in midtown was once lined with convenient, low-priced delis, cafeterias, coffee shops, and the like.—Brendan Gill
Brendan Gill
also
: the food sold at a delicatessen
If you're hungry for deli in Miami, only the Rascal House will do. —Norman Kolpas
Norman Kolpas … a neat, orderly, well-lighted place so clean you could eat deli off the floor … —Jack Fincher
—often used before another noun Jack Fincher deli meats/platters
waiting in line at the deli counter
Examples of deli in a Sentence
We bought sandwiches and drinks at the deli.
Recent Examples on the Web
Health inspectors first visited the store on March 25 and 26, and observed fresh rodent dropping in multiple areas of the deli section, including the preparation and equipment storage area, the back of the house and by doors separating the hallway to the main sales floor.
—Stephanie Lam, Mercury News, 13 Apr. 2025
The restaurant was in violation of 13 standards, including having raw chicken stored above raw potatoes, a deli slicer with debris and residue, no date markings on multiple food items and large buckets of food and containers of raw proteins stored on the floor.
—Evan Moore, Charlotte Observer, 11 Apr. 2025
Last July, Boar’s Head issued a recall for roughly 200,000 pounds of its deli products, only to later expand that to 7 million pounds of its products that had been made at its Jarratt, Virginia, facility.
—Addy Bink, The Hill, 8 Apr. 2025
Use fresh chicken or canned tuna instead of deli meats.
—Roxana Ehsani, Verywell Health, 21 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for deli
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Stephanie Lam, Mercury News, 13 Apr. 2025
The restaurant was in violation of 13 standards, including having raw chicken stored above raw potatoes, a deli slicer with debris and residue, no date markings on multiple food items and large buckets of food and containers of raw proteins stored on the floor.
—Evan Moore, Charlotte Observer, 11 Apr. 2025
Last July, Boar’s Head issued a recall for roughly 200,000 pounds of its deli products, only to later expand that to 7 million pounds of its products that had been made at its Jarratt, Virginia, facility.
—Addy Bink, The Hill, 8 Apr. 2025
Use fresh chicken or canned tuna instead of deli meats.
—Roxana Ehsani, Verywell Health, 21 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for deli
Cite this Entry
“Deli.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deli. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
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