saccharine
Americanadjective
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of the nature of or resembling that of sugar.
a powdery substance with a saccharine taste.
-
containing or yielding sugar.
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very sweet to the taste; sugary.
a saccharine dessert.
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cloyingly agreeable or ingratiating.
a saccharine personality.
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exaggeratedly sweet or sentimental.
a saccharine smile; a saccharine song of undying love.
adjective
-
excessively sweet; sugary
a saccharine smile
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of, relating to, of the nature of, or containing sugar or saccharin
Other Word Forms
- nonsaccharine adjective
- nonsaccharinity noun
- saccharinely adverb
- saccharinity noun
- unsaccharine adjective
Etymology
Origin of saccharine
Explanation
You might be tempted to turn the radio dial when you hear a love song that is saccharine, meaning that it’s too sweet and sentimental to bear. The adjective saccharine comes from the Middle Latin word for sugar. Saccharine is a type of sugar substitute that you might sprinkle on your cereal or berries to sweeten them without the calories of real sugar. The word is used to describe something so sweet that it’s annoying — like a very sentimental song or a tear-jerking commercial.
Vocabulary lists containing saccharine
Sickly Sweet Treats: Sappy and Insincere Valentine Words
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For Grilled Cheese Day, Vocab with a Twist
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Pie Chart: Dessert Words
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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.
LinkedIn users will be familiar with the saccharine positivity of users explaining how their latest promotion or honor makes them feel humbled and grateful.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 7, 2026
The follow-up continues this kookiness with a madhouse spoof of Hallmark holiday saccharine in which a woodpile becomes a homicidal monster.
From Salon • Dec. 18, 2025
So are saccharine dishes like the cranberry orange relish that Michael Donnelly-Boylen sweetened with long pours of sugar into a food processor.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 26, 2025
Written by William Ivory and directed by Oliver Parker, it’s a simple story, simply told — sweet, but not saccharine, and moving even when you know what’s coming.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 21, 2025
What was even better than the taste of the coffee was the silky texture given to it by the sugar, a thing Winston had almost forgotten after years of saccharine.
From "1984" by George Orwell
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.
