sauce

American  

[saws] / sɔs /

noun

1. any preparation, usually liquid or semiliquid, eaten as a gravy or as a relish accompanying food.

2. stewed fruit, often puréed and served as an accompaniment to meat, dessert, or other food.

   cranberry sauce.

3. something that adds piquance or zest.

4. Informal. sauciness; impertinence; impudence.

5. Slang. Usually the sauce hard liquor.

   He's on the sauce again.

6. Archaic. garden vegetables eaten with meat.

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verb (used with object)

sauced, saucing

1. to dress or prepare with sauce; season.

   meat well sauced.

2. to make a sauce of.

   Tomatoes must be sauced while ripe.

3. to give piquance or zest to.

4. to make agreeable or less harsh.

5. Informal. to speak impertinently or saucily to.

sauce British  

/ sɔːs /

noun

1. any liquid or semiliquid preparation eaten with food to enhance its flavour

2. anything that adds piquancy

3. stewed fruit

4. dialect vegetables eaten with meat

5. informal impudent language or behaviour

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verb

1. to prepare (food) with sauce

2. to add zest to

3. to make agreeable or less severe

4. informal to be saucy to

sauce Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing sauce

• hit the bottle (sauce)

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Other Word Forms

• oversauce verb (used with object)
• sauceless adjective

Etymology

Origin of sauce

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin salsa, noun use of feminine of Latin salsus “salted,” past participle of sallere “to salt,” derivative of sāl “salt”; salt ¹

Example Sentences

McCormick MKC 2.89%increase; green up pointing triangle has excelled at the former, building a small empire out of Frank’s RedHot, French’s mustard and Cholula hot sauce.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 29, 2026

In the 2000s, derivatives created from subprime mortgages were accorded top credit ratings; now, the so-called illiquidity premium on portfolios of loans to small and midsize private companies is considered their secret sauce.

From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026

The starter was inspired by his mother and consisted of a langoustine and green apple tartare, with a kefir and caviar sauce and tomato powder.

From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026

They absorb the sauce without dissolving into it.

From Salon • Mar. 23, 2026

Fried mung-bean pancake with spicy sauce, wafting in the air with the bricks of pungent soybean paste hawked by a nearby merchant, so strong you could taste it.

From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh

Related Words

• dressing
• flavoring
• gravy
• relish