candy
noun
any of a variety of confections made with sugar, syrup, etc., often combined with chocolate, fruit, nuts, etc.
candy
1 American
[kan-dee]
/ ˈkæn di /
noun
-
candies
plural
-
any of a variety of confections made with sugar, syrup, etc., often combined with chocolate, fruit, nuts, etc.
-
a single piece of such a confection.
-
Slang. cocaine.
-
someone or something that is pleasing or pleasurable, usually in a superficial way (often used in combination).
The show is candy, but enjoy it for what it is.
verb (used with object)
-
candies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
candied,
past participle, past
-
candying
present participle
-
to cook in sugar or syrup, as sweet potatoes or carrots.
-
to cook in heavy syrup until transparent, as fruit, fruit peel, or ginger.
-
to reduce (sugar, syrup, etc.) to a crystalline form, usually by boiling down.
-
to coat with sugar.
to candy dates.
-
to make sweet, palatable, or agreeable.
verb (used without object)
-
candies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
candied,
past participle, past
-
candying
present participle
-
to become covered with sugar.
-
to crystallize into sugar.
Candy
2
American
[kan-dee]
/ ˈkæn di /
noun
candy
British
/ ˈkændɪ /
noun
-
confectionery in general; sweets, chocolate, etc
-
a person or thing that is regarded as being attractive but superficial
arm candy
-
informal very easy to accomplish
verb
-
to cause (sugar, etc) to become crystalline, esp by boiling or (of sugar) to become crystalline through boiling
-
to preserve (fruit peel, ginger, etc) by boiling in sugar
-
to cover with any crystalline substance, such as ice or sugar
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
candysimple
-
candiessimple
-
have candiedperfect
-
has candiedperfect
-
am candyingprogressive
-
are candyingprogressive
-
is candyingprogressive
-
have been candyingperfect progressive
-
has been candyingperfect progressive
Past
-
candiedsimple
-
had candiedperfect
-
was candyingprogressive
-
were candyingprogressive
-
had been candyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of candy
1225–75; Middle English candi, sugre candi candied sugar < Middle French sucre candi; candi ≪ Arabic qandī < Persian qandi sugar < Sanskrit khaṇḍakaḥ sugar candy
Explanation
Candy is a sugary sweet treat. Halloween is partly about dressing up in costumes, but mostly it's about the candy. Your favorite candy may be sweet and fruity, or so sour you can barely stand to eat it. Other people prefer chocolate when it comes to candy. Candy is also a verb, meaning "coat with a sugary glaze," — you might candy cherries or almonds. And when something's made of candy, the word becomes an adjective: "But it's only a candy cigarette!" The word comes from the Arabic qandi, with its Persian root quand, "cane 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.
See Examples For:
FARGO, N.D.—Oak Reile was delivering a pallet of washer fluid, cigarettes and candy to a local convenience store in 2020 when he slipped and fell, breaking two vertebrae and paralyzing him from the armpits down.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
Jeffrey Gundlach, who runs DoubleLine Capital and does not hand out compliments like Halloween candy, put it plainly in a post on social-media platform X: “Even Lacy Hunt has turned bearish, to his credit.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
Children “dropped everything, ran up to him, begged for candy and wanted to take pictures. Some children even cried and begged him for their freedom. Santa himself acted very indifferent.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Sweeteners are found in countless everyday products, including soft drinks, candy, desserts, breakfast cereals, snacks, and some medications.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026
Leaves of dulse, a bit of meat shredded into soup on Christmas Day, the sticky red candy that Da had bought us after the harvest one year were nothing like this sweet milk.
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
Ontario-born Candy was such an icon that when the film was selected to open last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made a surprise appearance to introduce it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Then I tried Alani Nu’s Cotton Candy, which made the others seem like green juices in comparison.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Eighty-nine years later, Economy Candy is still going strong.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
It has now moved ahead of the U.S. in the number of billionaires per capita, thanks to a thriving tech startup scene and videogame industry that has produced hits like Minecraft and Candy Crush.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
And after a few awkward seconds, Bit ballooned his chest with bravery, rolled his shoulders back, and said, "Candy for sale."
From "Look Both Ways" by Jason Reynolds
"I don't know how long we will be like this," said Stefani Garate, 26, who used to sell coconut candies on the beach.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
Researchers figured out how to make convincing replicas of its red, orange and yellow candies using natural ingredients like beets and turmeric.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
It was from her that I learned the history of chamoy, and so I wanted to do a piece with her candies for a long time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
Initially it was a hat and shoe repair store, with candies sold from a cart out front as an extra earning stream.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
In our living room, we have a very tall glass cabinet where Ma keeps a lot of plates and little ornaments, but especially all the delicious, pretty candies.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
Other pizzas that piqued my interest include a half-white-and-half-red sauce pizza topped with candied bacon, ham, sweet onions, fennel and basil, and a blue cheese-focused pizza topped with pears, rosemary, shallots and onions.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026
And yes, sometimes that means recommending specialty ingredients genuinely worthy of a relative splurge: the good vanilla, candied citrus, Kewpie over the bottom-shelf mayonnaise.
From Salon ● May 12, 2026
Cake fillings of almond crunch and toasted pecan praline and candied lemon, while jackfruit and palm sugar bring distinct South-East Asian flavours.
From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2026
There’s the Ukrainian poppy seed cake makivnyk, the Middle Eastern hot chocolate sahlep, the Spanish nougat turrón and the Chinese candied fruit tanghulu, among others.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2025
With her mouth full of candied pecans, she asks, “Why is it weird?”
From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy
Some confectioners infuse their candying syrup with botanicals, like bay leaves, rosemary or peppercorns, for added intrigue.
From Salon ● Dec. 6, 2023
It’s subtle but transformative to know what sugar feels like in your fingers at different stages of candying.
From New York Times ● Dec. 1, 2017
A little practice will enable the candy-maker to form objects that look more like violets than do the flowers themselves after they have been put through the candying process.
From Candy-Making Revolutionized Confectionery from Vegetables by Hall, Mary Elizabeth
By this property, the combs serve also to keep the bees warm, and there is not so much risk of the honey candying in the cells, or the combs cracking with frost.
From Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey-Bee A Bee Keeper's Manual by Langstroth, L. L. (Lorenzo Lorraine)
For people had to provide for winter, and there was much pickling and preserving and candying of fruits, and storing commoner things so that they would keep well.
From A Little Girl in Old Philadelphia by Douglas, Amanda Minnie
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.
