To roast means to cook food with dry heat, usually in an oven or over a fire. When you roast a chicken, turkey, or vegetables, the high heat browns the outside while cooking the inside thoroughly. Roasted marshmallows get crispy and golden on the outside while turning gooey inside. The dry heat is what makes roasting different from boiling or steaming.

The word also means to make fun of someone in a playful, teasing way. At a comedy roast, comedians affectionately mock a guest of honor with jokes and exaggerated criticism, but everyone understands it's meant in good humor. Friends might roast each other about silly mistakes or embarrassing moments, like when your best friend reminds everyone about the time you showed up to school with your shirt inside out.

The key to a good roast is that it stays lighthearted. Real roasting requires respect and affection underneath the teasing. If the jokes become genuinely mean or hurtful, it stops being a roast and becomes something else entirely. The difference lies in whether everyone, including the person being roasted, ends up laughing together.