sugary
Americanadjective
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of, containing, or resembling sugar.
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sweet; excessively sweet.
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honeyed; cloying; deceitfully agreeable.
sugary words of greeting.
adjective
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of, like, or containing sugar
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containing too much sugar; excessively sweet
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deceptively pleasant; insincere
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sugary
Explanation
Something that's literally sugary is extremely sweet, like a sugary root beer float. If something is figuratively sugary, it's overly sentimental. Candy corn, soft drinks, and jelly beans are all sugary — and so is the sappy Valentine's Day card your sister wrote to her crush. The adjective sugary comes from sugar, an English word that, unusually, traces its origin back to Sanskrit. Sugar comes from sharkara, "ground or candied sugar."
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.
The appeal of strips is based on convenience: Pills can be hard to swallow, powders can be messy and gummies can be sugary.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026
These include greater consumption of ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks, childhood obesity, physical inactivity/sedentary behavior, antibiotic exposure, and air pollution.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
He's just been highlighting the high sugar content in various breakfast cereals while waving an empty box of a very sugary and chocolatey one at me.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
From next year, Europe's biggest economy is set to join many other countries by levying a tax on sugary drinks in a bid to raise funds to support its under-pressure health system.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
Sitti said she could read their fortunes in the tea leaves in the sugary bottoms of their cups.
From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
