sugarcoat
/ˈʃʊɡɚˌkoʊt/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.39 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To make superficially more attractive; to give a falsely pleasant appearance to.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "There's no way to sugarcoat the loss of the space shuttle; it was an unmitigated disaster."
- "I went to the unheard-of trouble of re-writing the letter and saying the same harsh things softly, so as to sugarcoat the anguish and make it a little more endurable […]"
- "The only difference is I got the balls to say it in front of y'all / And I don't gotta be false or sugarcoat it at all"
- "[…] And I don't think we can sugarcoat both the human toll that is unfolding in Ukraine, but also how it is reordering the international architecture in ways that we haven't seen in decades."
- ""The insurgents killed them all?" "Very likely." Scout's expression was kindly, but he was apparently not the sort to sugarcoat things. Then again, maybe he had simply read her receptivity well."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱorkeh₂ Proto-Indo-Iranian *ćárkaraH Proto-Indo-Aryan *śárkaraH Sanskrit शर्क॑रा (śárkarā) Gandhari 𐨭𐨐𐨪 (śakara)bor. Middle Persian 𐭱𐭪𐭥 (šakar)bor. Arabic سُكَّر (sukkar)bor. Old Italian zuccherobor. Old French çucrebor. Middle English sugre English sugar Proto-Germanic *kuttôbor. Latin cotta Old French cottebor. Middle English cote English coat English sugarcoat From sugar + coat; figurative sense from the practice of coating medicinal tablets or pills with sugar in order to disguise their unpleasant taste (sugarcoating the pill).
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈʃʊɡɚˌkoʊt/
- British English: /ˈʃʊɡəˌkəʊt/