sappy
Americanadjective
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sappier,
comparative
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sappiest
superlative
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abounding in sap, as a plant.
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full of vitality and energy.
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Slang. silly or foolish.
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Slang. overly sentimental.
It’s one of those sappy romantic ballads.
adjective
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(of plants) full of sap
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full of energy or vitality
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slang silly or fatuous
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of sappy
First recorded before 1100; Middle English sapy, Old English sæpig; see sap 1, -y 1
Explanation
Something sappy lacks substance. It's silly, foolish, and overly sentimental. Have you ever heard someone refer to a sappy song? That's not a compliment, because anything sappy is considered cheesy, saccharine, clichéd, ludicrous, or goofy. Serious or excellent art would never be called sappy. Greeting cards are often sappy, as is someone saying "I wuv you" to his dog. In the 1550s, sappy meant "full of vitality," but by the end of the 1600s its meaning changed to "foolishly sentimental," possibly influenced by the stickiness of sap.
Vocabulary lists containing sappy
Sickly Sweet Treats: Sappy and Insincere Valentine Words
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Fast Pitch
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Words to Describe a Movie
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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.
See Examples For:
Even the most sappy, predictable Christmas movies have an emotional tether.
From Salon ● Dec. 3, 2025
Just like in documentary short, history has proven the animated short award to favor crowd-pleasing films, and this delightfully immature French film about kissing is sappy enough to score the votes.
From Salon ● Feb. 28, 2025
People are swooning over sappy K-dramas from Dubai to India to Singapore.
From BBC ● Dec. 28, 2024
They’re sappy and maudlin, aiming to reduce the audience to a puddle of tears.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2024
"For instance, I know that Angela doesn't want to marry that sappy intern."
From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
In the sappier one, Chávez’s face is inside a sun, like the baby in “Teletubbies,” hanging over a boy and girl in graduation gowns.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
That meant we would go on to endure months of “Farewell Season” commercials, arguably sappier than those goodbye montages that aired after each contestant was eliminated.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 28, 2018
The book, exclusively excerpted in , reveals a sappier side of the late-night icon.
From Time ● Oct. 8, 2013
Demby: The last few minutes of this show, including Jeff's phone call to his father, felt like something from a much sappier show.
From Slate ● Feb. 15, 2013
These goodbyes are sappier than a Hallmark commercial but I fall for it every time.
From Salon ● May 13, 2010
And in the sappiest, cheesiest way, I believe this is how love stories work.
From Salon ● Feb. 14, 2024
The sappiest example of this father-son banter probably occurred in the fifth episode.
From Slate ● Jul. 20, 2020
We can still fight back, and the revolution starts here with our takedown of the eight sickest, sappiest, all-around worst holiday commercials of 2019.
From Golf Digest ● Dec. 5, 2019
Grab some Kleenex and Ben and Jerry's, put on your sappiest playlist, and reminisce on all the celebrity couples who called it quits this year.
From Fox News ● Dec. 31, 2018
He’d seen plenty of polar bear cubs from inside his parents’ tundra buggy, but never one this close-up, and suddenly he was cooing like the sappiest tourist.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
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.
