"sugarcoat" meaning in English

See sugarcoat in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /ˈʃʊɡɚˌkoʊt/ [General-American], /ˈʃʊɡəˌkəʊt/ [Received-Pronunciation] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sugarcoat.wav Forms: sugarcoats [present, singular, third-person], sugarcoating [participle, present], sugarcoated [participle, past], sugarcoated [past], sugar coat [alternative], sugar-coat [alternative]
Etymology: 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). Etymology templates: {{compound|en|sugar|coat}} sugar + coat Head templates: {{en-verb}} sugarcoat (third-person singular simple present sugarcoats, present participle sugarcoating, simple past and past participle sugarcoated)
  1. (transitive) To coat with sugar. Tags: transitive Translations (to coat with sugar): غَطَّى بِالسُّكَّرِ (ḡaṭṭā bias-sukkari) (Arabic), anzuckern (German), verzuckern (German), cukormázzal önt le / von be (Hungarian), lukrować [imperfective] (Polish), заса́харить (zasáxaritʹ) [perfective] (Russian), запу́дрить (zapúdritʹ) [perfective] (Russian), глазирова́ть (glazirovátʹ) [imperfective, perfective] (Russian), azucarar (Spanish), emborrizar con mishqui (Spanish), kandera (Swedish), överdra med socker (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-sugarcoat-en-verb-HSkyf6Rn Disambiguation of 'to coat with sugar': 99 1
  2. (transitive, figurative) To make superficially more attractive; to give a falsely pleasant appearance to. Tags: figuratively, transitive Synonyms: candy-coat, gild, gild the pill, sugarcoat the pill Translations (to give a falsely pleasant appearance): حَسَّنَ (ḥassana) (Arabic), خَفَّفَ (ḵaffafa) (Arabic), لَطَّفَ (laṭṭafa) (Arabic), جَمَّل (jammal) (Arabic), دلّع (dallaʕ) [North-Levantine-Arabic] (Arabic), захаросвам (zaharosvam) (Bulgarian), 粉飾 /粉饰 (fěnshì) (Chinese), kaunistella (Finnish), beschönigen (German), schönreden (German), szépít (Hungarian), オブラートに包む (oburāto ni tsutsumu) (Japanese), rosemale (Norwegian), słodzić [imperfective] (Polish), kadzić [imperfective] (Polish), смягча́ть (smjaxčátʹ) [imperfective] (Russian), сгла́живать (sgláživatʹ) [imperfective] (Russian), скра́шивать (skrášivatʹ) [imperfective] (Russian), приукра́шивать (priukrášivatʹ) [imperfective] (Russian), затушёвывать (zatušóvyvatʹ) [imperfective] (Russian), загла́живать (zagláživatʹ) (Russian), лакирова́ть (lakirovátʹ) [imperfective, perfective] (Russian), золоти́ть пилю́лю (zolotítʹ piljúlju) (Russian), подслаща́ть пилюлю (podslaščátʹ piljulju) (Russian), выставля́ть в вы́годном све́те (vystavljátʹ v výgodnom svéte) (Russian), представля́ть в ро́зовом све́те (predstavljátʹ v rózovom svéte) (Russian), maquillar (Spanish), dorar la píldora (Spanish), azucarar (Spanish), edulcorar (Spanish), endulzar (Spanish), dulcificar (Spanish), adulciguar (Spanish), adulcir (Spanish), endulcecer (Spanish), linda in (Swedish), försköna (Swedish), släta över (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-sugarcoat-en-verb-senf3cqu Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Arabic translations, Terms with Bulgarian translations, Terms with Chinese translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Hungarian translations, Terms with Japanese translations, Terms with North Levantine Arabic translations, Terms with Norwegian translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Terms with Swedish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 10 90 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 13 87 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 12 88 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 9 91 Disambiguation of Terms with Arabic translations: 14 86 Disambiguation of Terms with Bulgarian translations: 14 86 Disambiguation of Terms with Chinese translations: 15 85 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 12 88 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 14 86 Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 12 88 Disambiguation of Terms with Japanese translations: 15 85 Disambiguation of Terms with North Levantine Arabic translations: 2 98 Disambiguation of Terms with Norwegian translations: 14 86 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 19 81 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 13 87 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 14 86 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 14 86 Disambiguation of 'to give a falsely pleasant appearance': 0 100
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: sugarcoat a bitter pill, sugarcoated [adjective], sugarcoating [noun]

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "sugarcoat a bitter pill"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "tags": [
        "adjective"
      ],
      "word": "sugarcoated"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "tags": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "word": "sugarcoating"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "sugar",
        "3": "coat"
      },
      "expansion": "sugar + coat",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sugarcoats",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sugarcoating",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
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    {
      "form": "sugarcoated",
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        "participle",
        "past"
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    },
    {
      "form": "sugarcoated",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sugar coat",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sugar-coat",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "sugarcoat (third-person singular simple present sugarcoats, present participle sugarcoating, simple past and past participle sugarcoated)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenations": [
    {
      "parts": [
        "sug",
        "ar",
        "coat"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "To coat with sugar."
      ],
      "id": "en-sugarcoat-en-verb-HSkyf6Rn",
      "links": [
        [
          "coat",
          "coat"
        ],
        [
          "sugar",
          "sugar"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To coat with sugar."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "lang_code": "ar",
          "roman": "ḡaṭṭā bias-sukkari",
          "sense": "to coat with sugar",
          "word": "غَطَّى بِالسُّكَّرِ"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "to coat with sugar",
          "word": "anzuckern"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "to coat with sugar",
          "word": "verzuckern"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "lang_code": "hu",
          "sense": "to coat with sugar",
          "word": "cukormázzal önt le / von be"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "to coat with sugar",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "lukrować"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "zasáxaritʹ",
          "sense": "to coat with sugar",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "заса́харить"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "zapúdritʹ",
          "sense": "to coat with sugar",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "запу́дрить"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "glazirovátʹ",
          "sense": "to coat with sugar",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective",
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "глазирова́ть"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to coat with sugar",
          "word": "azucarar"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to coat with sugar",
          "word": "emborrizar con mishqui"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "lang_code": "sv",
          "sense": "to coat with sugar",
          "word": "kandera"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "lang_code": "sv",
          "sense": "to coat with sugar",
          "word": "överdra med socker"
        }
      ]
    },
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          "text": "There's no way to sugarcoat the loss of the space shuttle; it was an unmitigated disaster.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              108,
              117
            ]
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          "ref": "1876 November 1, Mark Twain, “Letter to Mr. Burrough, of St. Louis”, in The Letters Of Mark Twain,, volume 3:",
          "text": "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 […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              99,
              108
            ]
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          "ref": "2000, “The Real Slim Shady”, in The Marshall Mathers LP, performed by Eminem:",
          "text": "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",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              29,
              38
            ]
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          "ref": "2022 March 23, Barack Obama, 2:52 from the start, in Centennial Celebration Conversation with President Barack Obama and Yo-Yo Ma, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, via YouTube:",
          "text": "[…] 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.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
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              118,
              127
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          "ref": "2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 02 Sep 2024:",
          "text": "\"The insurgents killed them all?\"\n\"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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To make superficially more attractive; to give a falsely pleasant appearance to."
      ],
      "id": "en-sugarcoat-en-verb-senf3cqu",
      "links": [
        [
          "superficially",
          "superficially"
        ],
        [
          "attractive",
          "attractive"
        ],
        [
          "falsely",
          "falsely"
        ],
        [
          "pleasant",
          "pleasant"
        ],
        [
          "appearance",
          "appearance"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, figurative) To make superficially more attractive; to give a falsely pleasant appearance to."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "candy-coat"
        },
        {
          "word": "gild"
        },
        {
          "word": "gild the pill"
        },
        {
          "word": "sugarcoat the pill"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "transitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "lang_code": "ar",
          "roman": "ḥassana",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "حَسَّنَ"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "lang_code": "ar",
          "roman": "ḵaffafa",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "خَفَّفَ"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "lang_code": "ar",
          "roman": "laṭṭafa",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "لَطَّفَ"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "lang_code": "ar",
          "roman": "jammal",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "جَمَّل"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "apc",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "lang_code": "apc",
          "roman": "dallaʕ",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "tags": [
            "North-Levantine-Arabic"
          ],
          "word": "دلّع"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "lang_code": "bg",
          "roman": "zaharosvam",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "захаросвам"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "zh",
          "lang": "Chinese",
          "lang_code": "zh",
          "roman": "fěnshì",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "粉飾 /粉饰"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "kaunistella"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "beschönigen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "schönreden"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "lang_code": "hu",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "szépít"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "lang_code": "ja",
          "roman": "oburāto ni tsutsumu",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "オブラートに包む"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "no",
          "lang": "Norwegian",
          "lang_code": "no",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "rosemale"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "słodzić"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "kadzić"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "smjaxčátʹ",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "смягча́ть"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "sgláživatʹ",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "сгла́живать"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "skrášivatʹ",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "скра́шивать"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "priukrášivatʹ",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "приукра́шивать"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "zatušóvyvatʹ",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "затушёвывать"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "zagláživatʹ",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "загла́живать"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "lakirovátʹ",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective",
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "лакирова́ть"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "zolotítʹ piljúlju",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "золоти́ть пилю́лю"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "podslaščátʹ piljulju",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "подслаща́ть пилюлю"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "vystavljátʹ v výgodnom svéte",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "выставля́ть в вы́годном све́те"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "predstavljátʹ v rózovom svéte",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "представля́ть в ро́зовом све́те"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "maquillar"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "dorar la píldora"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "azucarar"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "edulcorar"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "endulzar"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "dulcificar"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "adulciguar"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "adulcir"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "endulcecer"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "lang_code": "sv",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "linda in"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "lang_code": "sv",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "försköna"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "lang_code": "sv",
          "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
          "word": "släta över"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈʃʊɡɚˌkoʊt/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈʃʊɡəˌkəʊt/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sugarcoat.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1b/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-sugarcoat.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-sugarcoat.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1b/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-sugarcoat.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-sugarcoat.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "sugarcoat"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Arabic translations",
    "Terms with Bulgarian translations",
    "Terms with Chinese translations",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Hungarian translations",
    "Terms with Japanese translations",
    "Terms with North Levantine Arabic translations",
    "Terms with Norwegian translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Terms with Swedish translations"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "sugarcoat a bitter pill"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "adjective"
      ],
      "word": "sugarcoated"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "word": "sugarcoating"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "sugar",
        "3": "coat"
      },
      "expansion": "sugar + coat",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sugarcoats",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sugarcoating",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sugarcoated",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sugarcoated",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sugar coat",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sugar-coat",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "sugarcoat (third-person singular simple present sugarcoats, present participle sugarcoating, simple past and past participle sugarcoated)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenations": [
    {
      "parts": [
        "sug",
        "ar",
        "coat"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To coat with sugar."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "coat",
          "coat"
        ],
        [
          "sugar",
          "sugar"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To coat with sugar."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              18,
              27
            ]
          ],
          "text": "There's no way to sugarcoat the loss of the space shuttle; it was an unmitigated disaster.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              108,
              117
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1876 November 1, Mark Twain, “Letter to Mr. Burrough, of St. Louis”, in The Letters Of Mark Twain,, volume 3:",
          "text": "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 […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              99,
              108
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2000, “The Real Slim Shady”, in The Marshall Mathers LP, performed by Eminem:",
          "text": "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",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              29,
              38
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2022 March 23, Barack Obama, 2:52 from the start, in Centennial Celebration Conversation with President Barack Obama and Yo-Yo Ma, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, via YouTube:",
          "text": "[…] 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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              118,
              127
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 02 Sep 2024:",
          "text": "\"The insurgents killed them all?\"\n\"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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To make superficially more attractive; to give a falsely pleasant appearance to."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "superficially",
          "superficially"
        ],
        [
          "attractive",
          "attractive"
        ],
        [
          "falsely",
          "falsely"
        ],
        [
          "pleasant",
          "pleasant"
        ],
        [
          "appearance",
          "appearance"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, figurative) To make superficially more attractive; to give a falsely pleasant appearance to."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "candy-coat"
        },
        {
          "word": "gild"
        },
        {
          "word": "gild the pill"
        },
        {
          "word": "sugarcoat the pill"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈʃʊɡɚˌkoʊt/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈʃʊɡəˌkəʊt/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sugarcoat.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1b/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-sugarcoat.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-sugarcoat.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1b/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-sugarcoat.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-sugarcoat.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "lang_code": "ar",
      "roman": "ḡaṭṭā bias-sukkari",
      "sense": "to coat with sugar",
      "word": "غَطَّى بِالسُّكَّرِ"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "to coat with sugar",
      "word": "anzuckern"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "to coat with sugar",
      "word": "verzuckern"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "lang_code": "hu",
      "sense": "to coat with sugar",
      "word": "cukormázzal önt le / von be"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "to coat with sugar",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "lukrować"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "zasáxaritʹ",
      "sense": "to coat with sugar",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "заса́харить"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "zapúdritʹ",
      "sense": "to coat with sugar",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "запу́дрить"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "glazirovátʹ",
      "sense": "to coat with sugar",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective",
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "глазирова́ть"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to coat with sugar",
      "word": "azucarar"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to coat with sugar",
      "word": "emborrizar con mishqui"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "to coat with sugar",
      "word": "kandera"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "to coat with sugar",
      "word": "överdra med socker"
    },
    {
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "lang_code": "ar",
      "roman": "ḥassana",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "حَسَّنَ"
    },
    {
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "lang_code": "ar",
      "roman": "ḵaffafa",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "خَفَّفَ"
    },
    {
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "lang_code": "ar",
      "roman": "laṭṭafa",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "لَطَّفَ"
    },
    {
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "lang_code": "ar",
      "roman": "jammal",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "جَمَّل"
    },
    {
      "code": "apc",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "lang_code": "apc",
      "roman": "dallaʕ",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "tags": [
        "North-Levantine-Arabic"
      ],
      "word": "دلّع"
    },
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "lang_code": "bg",
      "roman": "zaharosvam",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "захаросвам"
    },
    {
      "code": "zh",
      "lang": "Chinese",
      "lang_code": "zh",
      "roman": "fěnshì",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "粉飾 /粉饰"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "kaunistella"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "beschönigen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "schönreden"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "lang_code": "hu",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "szépít"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "lang_code": "ja",
      "roman": "oburāto ni tsutsumu",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "オブラートに包む"
    },
    {
      "code": "no",
      "lang": "Norwegian",
      "lang_code": "no",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "rosemale"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "słodzić"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "kadzić"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "smjaxčátʹ",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "смягча́ть"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "sgláživatʹ",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "сгла́живать"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "skrášivatʹ",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "скра́шивать"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "priukrášivatʹ",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "приукра́шивать"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "zatušóvyvatʹ",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "затушёвывать"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "zagláživatʹ",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "загла́живать"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "lakirovátʹ",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective",
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "лакирова́ть"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "zolotítʹ piljúlju",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "золоти́ть пилю́лю"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "podslaščátʹ piljulju",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "подслаща́ть пилюлю"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "vystavljátʹ v výgodnom svéte",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "выставля́ть в вы́годном све́те"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "predstavljátʹ v rózovom svéte",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "представля́ть в ро́зовом све́те"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "maquillar"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "dorar la píldora"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "azucarar"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "edulcorar"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "endulzar"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "dulcificar"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "adulciguar"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "adulcir"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "endulcecer"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "linda in"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "försköna"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "to give a falsely pleasant appearance",
      "word": "släta över"
    }
  ],
  "word": "sugarcoat"
}

Download raw JSONL data for sugarcoat meaning in English (12.0kB)

{
  "called_from": "page/2530",
  "msg": "skipping string in the middle of translations: </table></div></div>",
  "path": [
    "sugarcoat"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "verb",
  "title": "sugarcoat",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-02-14 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-02-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 and 59dc20b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.