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3 1.0
To add a sweet white substance from plants to food or drink to make it sweet
  • verb
  • /ˈʃʊɡər/
translation icon : azucarar
  • To make the cake more delicious, she chose to sugar the batter generously.
  • sugar-coat

Examples

  • For her lemonade, she loves to sugar it just right to balance the tartness.

  • I think I should probably add some more sugar to this because I'm not sure.

  • And can I add some sugar into my apple mixture?

  • Turning the page, O'Fee sugars his coffee.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Afterwards, she asked if I wanted powdered or granulated sugar; they also sugar the donuts to order.

    Blog text (15)
  • He decided to sugar his tea for a sweeter taste.

Synonyms

to sweeten
vsto sugar
25 3.0

Make food taste sweeter by adding sugar or make an offer more attractive

is narrower, focusing specifically on adding a particular sweet ingredient to food or drink
to edulcorate
vsto sugar
  • Formal
9.9

To make something taste sweeter

has identical meaning but is expressed as a different lexical form
to dulcorate
vsto sugar
  • Archaic
9.9

To make food or drink taste sweeter

has identical meaning but appears as an alternate word form

Antonyms

1 6.7

To make something have a sharp taste or cause strong negative feelings

Idioms

made of sugar
  • Informal
1 7.5

Can handle criticism and hard situations without complaining

sure as sugar
  • Informal
1 8.8

Certain to happen without any doubt

Phrasal Verbs

To stop eating or drinking foods with added sugar

Compounds

blood sugar
  • Specialized
70 2.8

The amount of sugar in the blood that shows how healthy you are

33 1.0

Sugar that keeps some brown syrup, making it brown and a little sticky

16 7.4

An older rich man who gives money and gifts to a younger person for romantic or sexual attention

13 1.0

Fine sugar used for baking and sprinkling on desserts

12 2.0

A tall tropical plant with thick sweet stalks used to make sugar

9 1.0

An amount of sugar that fills one cup used for cooking

9 1.1

A flat sweet cookie made from simple dough often decorated with icing or sugar

Small white sugar grains used for cooking and baking

6 1.4

Water mixed with sugar makes a sweet drink or food for animals and plants

White sugar made from sugar cane or beet and used to sweeten food and drinks

4 3.6

A North American tree with hard wood and a sweet liquid used to make syrup and sugar

3 1.0

A small container for serving sugar at the table

3 2.8

A plant with a large white root grown to make sugar

3 2.5

Has sugar on the outside to make it sweet and not sticky

1 1.3

Sweetener made from the tall plant sugarcane used to sweeten food and drinks

A sweet pea with a crisp round pod that you can eat whole, raw or cooked

1 2.9

A sweet ingredient made from beet roots to sweeten food and drink

1 2.7

A sweet solid you get by boiling juice from maple trees

sugar and spice
  • Informal
1 3.5

Very nice and friendly in a sweet, gentle way

1 1.8

A sweet liquid made by boiling sugar and water

sugar-plum
  • Archaic
1 8.4

A loving name for a child or someone you love

1 1.6

Very finely powdered sugar used to make sweet toppings and decorations

A very small amount of sugar you can hold between your thumb and finger

1 1.0

A hard sweet made by boiling sugar and letting it cool

A factory that turns raw sugar into clean white sugar

simple sugar
  • Specialized
1 3.7

A small sweet part of food the body uses for quick energy, like glucose or fructose

caramelized sugar
  • Specialized
1 2.8

You heat sugar until it melts and turns brown to add color and sweet taste

1 2.9

A sugar made from corn starch used to sweeten food and drinks

milk sugar
  • Specialized
1 2.7

A sugar in milk that gives it a slightly sweet taste

1 2.8

Large hard sugar crystals that people use to sweeten drinks and decorate food

sugar bomb
  • Informal
1 3.6

A food or drink that has a lot of sugar and tastes very sweet

1 9.2

A person who is playful and dreamy in a magical way

1 4.6

Thin threads made from boiled sugar to decorate cakes

brain sugar
  • Specialized
8.0

A simple sugar found in milk and body tissues that helps the brain grow

3.4

A very fine sugar for baking and to sweeten drinks

3.4

A very fine sugar bakers use for baking and sprinkling

A coarse light brown sugar with large crunchy crystals used on drinks and cakes

barley-sugar
  • Archaic
6.9

A hard clear candy often twisted into a stick

fruit sugar
  • Specialized
2.7

A natural sugar found in ripe fruit and honey

loaf sugar
  • Archaic
9.3

A large hard block of sugar often shaped like a cone that people break into pieces at home

1.6

Sugar shaped into small cubes that you put in drinks to make them sweet

malt sugar
  • Specialized
4.5

A white sweet crystal that forms when grain starch breaks during malting

grape sugar
  • Specialized
3.0

A natural sweet found in grapes, honey and ripe fruit

invert sugar
  • Specialized
6.0

A sweet syrup made by breaking down table sugar into two simple sugars found in honey and fruits

sugar apple
  • Australian
7.0

A sweet tropical fruit with thick bumpy skin and soft white flesh around black seeds

2.5

A type of corn with sweet young ears eaten as a vegetable

2.6

A small green vegetable with flat pods you eat whole while young

sugar pimp
  • Offensive
9.9

A person who uses money or gifts to control and profit from people they date

sugar shell
  • Archaic
5.1

A small spoon with a bowl like a shell used to serve sugar

A thing that is very sweet and makes you feel happy

sugar loaf
  • Archaic
8.8

A large solid cone of white sugar sold in the past

sugar of lead
  • Archaic
9.9

A poisonous white chemical used long ago to dye fabrics and make glazes

sugar palm
  • Philippine
6.0

A large tropical palm tree whose sweet sap makes sugar and wine and whose trunk gives sago

A tall plant grown for its sweet juice used to make syrup

9.9

An evergreen shrub with reddish yellow flower spikes and sticky, hairy fruits

A small spoon used to serve sugar

9.9

A small evergreen bush with reddish yellow flower spikes and hairy fruits

wood sugar
  • Specialized
7.4

A sweetener made from wood or straw often used instead of sugar by people with diabetes

How Sweet

to saturate
55 5.2
to coat
105 2.8
to sugar
3 1.0
to sprinkle
100 1.1

Surface Forms

sugar infinitive
sugared past
sugared past participle
sugaring present participle
sugars third person singular

Etymology

Sugar as a verb comes directly from the noun sugar and means to add the sweet crystals to food or drink, much like we say 'salt' to add salt. So to sugar something is simply to make it 'sweet' by putting sugar on or in it.