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:
It’s a piece of delicious, fluffy cotton candy, sweet and quick-dissolving.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
One trend centered on the “chamoy pickle”—a hollowed-out jumbo dill pickle typically filled with spicy chips or sour candy, coated with the Mexican condiment chamoy and wrapped in a Fruit Roll-Up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
I’d run my fingers across the convex pyramid textures in the same way other people lay under a weighted blanket or ate sour candy, jolting my subconscious back into the here and now.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 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
Bat didn’t like gummy candy, but he always got one gummy sea star anyway.
From "A Boy Called Bat" by Elana K. Arnold
In New York, vegetarian restaurant Dirt Candy was one of the very first to ban tipping back in 2015.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Appeared in the August 13, 2026, print edition as 'Goldman Doubles Down on ‘Boomer Candy’'.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
For years, they said no, aside from Rosemary contributing to an A&E Biography and the 2011 doc “John Candy: True Double Blue,” which focused on his love for the Toronto Argonauts football team.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Eighty-nine years later, Economy Candy is still going strong.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
If he volunteered there, he’d probably bump into Candy Man, and who knows what would happen.
From "The Boy in the Black Suit" 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
Mars researchers figured out how to deliver convincing replicas of its red, orange and yellow candies using natural ingredients like beets and turmeric.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
Chamoy has been used by a lot of modern day food makers and chefs with American nostalgic candies, like peach rings and gummy worms, and my personal favorite, Gushers.
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
Big barrels full of hard candies formed the aisles.
From "A Boy Called Bat" by Elana K. Arnold
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
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
Pecans — toasted or candied — introduce flavor and texture contrast: that little crunch can transform the dish entirely.
From Salon ● Nov. 27, 2025
Avery had a balloon tied to his ear and was chewing a candied apple.
From "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White
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
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 L. L. (Lorenzo Lorraine) Langstroth
To candy it, do not add the syrup, but observe the directions given for candying fruit; some may be done each way.
From Burroughs' Encyclopaedia of Astounding Facts and Useful Information, 1889 by Barkham Burroughs
Besides possessing the desirable qualities already described, they answer as nurseries for the rearing of the young, and as small air-tight vessels in which the honey is preserved from souring or candying.
From Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey-Bee A Bee Keeper's Manual by L. L. (Lorenzo Lorraine) Langstroth
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.
