sauce
Americannoun
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sauces
plural
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any preparation, usually liquid or semiliquid, eaten as a gravy or as a relish accompanying food.
-
stewed fruit, often puréed and served as an accompaniment to meat, dessert, or other food.
cranberry sauce.
-
something that adds piquance or zest.
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Informal. sauciness; impertinence; impudence.
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Slang. Usually the sauce hard liquor.
He's on the sauce again.
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Archaic. garden vegetables eaten with meat.
verb (used with object)
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sauces,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sauced,
past participle, past
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saucing
present participle
-
to dress or prepare with sauce; season.
meat well sauced.
-
to make a sauce of.
Tomatoes must be sauced while ripe.
-
to give piquance or zest to.
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to make agreeable or less harsh.
-
Informal. to speak impertinently or saucily to.
noun
-
any liquid or semiliquid preparation eaten with food to enhance its flavour
-
anything that adds piquancy
-
stewed fruit
-
dialect vegetables eaten with meat
-
informal impudent language or behaviour
verb
-
to prepare (food) with sauce
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to add zest to
-
to make agreeable or less severe
-
informal to be saucy to
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
saucesimple
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saucessimple
-
have saucedperfect
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has saucedperfect
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am saucingprogressive
-
are saucingprogressive
-
is saucingprogressive
-
have been saucingperfect progressive
-
has been saucingperfect progressive
Past
-
saucedsimple
-
had saucedperfect
-
was saucingprogressive
-
were saucingprogressive
-
had been saucingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sauce
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 salt 1
Explanation
A sauce is a nearly-liquid or soft topping or condiment for food. You might prefer your spaghetti with tomato sauce and your broccoli with cheese sauce. The cuisine of every country and region has its own sauces, from chutney served with Indian dosas to Hollandaise sauce on eggs Benedict and caramel sauce dolloped on sticky toffee pudding. You can even use sauce as a fancy verb: "Shall I sauce the beef?" Figuratively, to sauce someone is to speak in an impudent or cheeky way.
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.
See Examples For:
One of my brothers splashes vinegary house hot sauce into the spicy.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
They do this blue crab hand roll and they add some jalapeno and give you a ponzu sauce to dip it in.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
Maybe all of that messy human friction had a point beyond just, say, getting a spaghetti sauce recipe.
From Slate ● Oct. 2, 2026
“No one quite knows what the special sauce is for getting your project approved.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
“Heath bar brownie with butterscotch sauce and hot fudge, whipped cream, and a cherry on top. That’s his favorite. But he likes to mix it up.”
From "Invisible Inkling" by Emily Jenkins
They have a great all-you-can-eat menu with really great meats and an assortment of sauces and condiments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
Foie gras is his favorite ingredient and a fixture on his menu -- used in his tartare presentation, to mount sauces, as a pate, and even for ice cream.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
“Over the years, McDonald’s has tried multiple iterations for chicken and strips, opting for different seasoning, cuts and sauces, all with little success,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
For nonsandwiches, the chicken war is fought in sauces, suitable terrain for blank-canvas fried chicken and consumers who increasingly expect their food to be modifiable.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026
The scents of grilled meats, savory sauces, and sugar hang in the air like sweet fog.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Ferrell said later that he was glad to be in the back row because it meant nobody behind him got sauced.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
The capers themselves are fried to create a crisp garnish for the sauced asparagus.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 12, 2023
Taste a sauced noodle, and adjust the seasoning again if needed.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2023
Riding the wave of an obsessive interest in all forms of fried chicken, crispy chicken skins are the base for nachos at pop-ups, and sauced and spiced as appetizers in restaurants.
From New York Times ● Dec. 27, 2022
"That was good, but now I'd like a leg of Iamb. A whole leg, Just for me, sauced with mint and honey and cloves. Did you see any lambs?"
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Of this generous, very pretty platter, my only sorrow was an uneven saucing, leaving one side somewhat bereft of the overall excellence.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 26, 2023
Little did she know that I did, and obviously still do, find a deep, personal satisfaction with all things chopping, sauteing, saucing, cooking and roasting.
From Salon ● Feb. 26, 2023
But like self-absorbed restaurant owners everywhere, I push for more, hungry for feedback about the roll I selected for the brisket sandwich or the artful saucing of the pasta in her Thermos.
From New York Times ● Sep. 20, 2019
But for the last couple of weeks, two guys known for making pizzas in Altadena have been frying and saucing excellent chicken wings out of a corner of the store.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2016
Then Albert Edward stumbled within and The O'Murphy hung about outside saucing the brass-collared Staff dogs and waiting to gather up what fragments remained of his chum's body after the General had done with it.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 152, June 6, 1917 by Various
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