sugarcoat
Americanverb (used with object)
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to cover with sugar.
to sugarcoat a pill.
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to make (something difficult or distasteful) appear more pleasant or acceptable.
There was no way to sugarcoat the bad news.
Etymology
Origin of sugarcoat
Vocabulary lists containing sugarcoat
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As amiable as the movie is from the jump, it wastes no time thrusting viewers into a world in complete peril, refusing to sugarcoat the modern realities of a once-robust industry.
From Salon ● May 1, 2026
"He's not well. I'm not going to sugarcoat this and say that he's doing really well, he's still really unwell," she told her followers.
From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2026
“No way to sugarcoat it: The S&P 500 is expensive,” BofA Securities wrote in a Dec. 31 research note.
From Barron's ● Jan. 8, 2026
“It’s just straight-up disappointing, and there’s no other way to sugarcoat it.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2025
The man smiled the way you do to sugarcoat bad news.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
