pepper

A1 · Beginner Countable noun Cooking

n. a hollow green, red, or yellow vegetable that can be sweet or very hot.

n. the fruit of the capsicum plant, ranging from mild bell peppers to intensely spicy chili varieties. Countable when referring to the whole fruit.

“She chopped up a red pepper and added it to the salad.”

“The recipe calls for three large bell peppers, though you may substitute habaneros if you prefer a significantly higher heat profile.”

A2 · Elementary Cooking

v. to add pepper to food to give it more taste.

v. to season or flavour food with ground pepper. Transitive; requires a direct object.

“The chef carefully peppered the steak before putting it on the grill.”

“After the meat had been seared, the cook peppered it generously to create a spicy crust.”

B2 · Upper Intermediate

v. to hit something many times with small objects like bullets or stones.

v. to strike or shower someone or something repeatedly with small objects or missiles.

“Hail began to pepper the roof of the car during the storm.”

“The retreating troops were peppered with small-arms fire as they attempted to cross the open field.”

C1 · Advanced Literary

v. to include many examples of something throughout a speech or piece of writing.

v. to dot or sprinkle a surface or a body of work with something at frequent intervals.

“The author liked to pepper his stories with French words.”

“The professor's lecture was peppered with dry jokes that only the most attentive students managed to catch.”

C2 · Proficiency Countable noun Computing Technical

n. a secret value added to a password to make it harder for hackers to steal.

n. a secret, randomly-generated value added to a password before hashing, stored separately from the database. Countable in technical contexts.

“The security system uses a unique pepper for every user account.”

“Unlike a salt, which is stored alongside the hashed password, a pepper is typically kept in a secure hardware module to prevent mass decryption.”