sauce

[ saws ]
See synonyms for sauce on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. any preparation, usually liquid or semiliquid, eaten as a gravy or as a relish accompanying food.

  2. stewed fruit, often puréed and served as an accompaniment to meat, dessert, or other food: cranberry sauce.

  1. something that adds piquance or zest.

  2. Informal. sauciness; impertinence; impudence.

  3. Slang.Usually the sauce . hard liquor: He's on the sauce again.

  4. Archaic. garden vegetables eaten with meat.

verb (used with object),sauced, sauc·ing.
  1. to dress or prepare with sauce; season: meat well sauced.

  2. to make a sauce of: Tomatoes must be sauced while ripe.

  1. to give piquance or zest to.

  2. to make agreeable or less harsh.

  3. Informal. to speak impertinently or saucily to.

Origin of sauce

1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin salsa, noun use of feminine of Latin salsus “salted,” past participle of sallere “to salt,” derivative of sāl “salt”; see also salt1

Other words from sauce

  • sauceless, adjective
  • o·ver·sauce, verb (used with object), o·ver·sauced, o·ver·sauc·ing.

Words that may be confused with sauce

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use sauce in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for sauce

sauce

/ (sɔːs) /


noun
  1. any liquid or semiliquid preparation eaten with food to enhance its flavour

  2. anything that adds piquancy

  1. US and Canadian stewed fruit

  2. US dialect vegetables eaten with meat

  3. informal impudent language or behaviour

verb(tr)
  1. to prepare (food) with sauce

  2. to add zest to

  1. to make agreeable or less severe

  2. informal to be saucy to

Origin of sauce

1
C14: via Old French from Latin salsus salted, from salīre to sprinkle with salt, from sal salt

Derived forms of sauce

  • sauceless, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with sauce

sauce

In addition to the idiom beginning with sauce

  • sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, what's

also see:

  • hit the bottle (sauce)

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.