sauce
Americannoun
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any preparation, usually liquid or semiliquid, eaten as a gravy or as a relish accompanying food.
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stewed fruit, often puréed and served as an accompaniment to meat, dessert, or other food.
cranberry sauce.
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something that adds piquance or zest.
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Informal. sauciness; impertinence; impudence.
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Slang. Usually the sauce hard liquor.
He's on the sauce again.
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Archaic. garden vegetables eaten with meat.
verb (used with object)
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to dress or prepare with sauce; season.
meat well sauced.
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to make a sauce of.
Tomatoes must be sauced while ripe.
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to give piquance or zest to.
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to make agreeable or less harsh.
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Informal. to speak impertinently or saucily to.
noun
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any liquid or semiliquid preparation eaten with food to enhance its flavour
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anything that adds piquancy
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stewed fruit
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dialect vegetables eaten with meat
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informal impudent language or behaviour
verb
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to prepare (food) with sauce
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to add zest to
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to make agreeable or less severe
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informal to be saucy to
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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saucesimple
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saucessimple
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have saucedperfect
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has saucedperfect
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am saucingprogressive
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are saucingprogressive
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is saucingprogressive
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have been saucingperfect progressive
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has been saucingperfect progressive
Past
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saucedsimple
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had saucedperfect
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was saucingprogressive
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were saucingprogressive
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had been saucingperfect progressive
Future
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”; see also salt 1
Explanation
A sauce is a nearly-liquid or soft topping or condiment for food. You might prefer your spaghetti with tomato sauce and your broccoli with cheese sauce. The cuisine of every country and region has its own sauces, from chutney served with Indian dosas to Hollandaise sauce on eggs Benedict and caramel sauce dolloped on sticky toffee pudding. You can even use sauce as a fancy verb: "Shall I sauce the beef?" Figuratively, to sauce someone is to speak in an impudent or cheeky way.
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:
She said it was "a tough one because I have a lot of palettes to appease", with her British-born husband favouring "meat, potatoes and cream sauce" while she preferred grilled fish.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
But even the leading brand of America’s favorite sauce didn’t expect to be rushing advertisements onto billboards and taxis, deploying 60,000 packets to World Cup stadiums or scrambling a response to an urgent TSA warning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
"Guess the bottom line is…I could keep my focus and nerve all four days to finish it off," he messaged when I asked for the secret sauce.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
On the plate, it’s a half pound of Wagyu brisket smothered in pickles and Mornay sauce, all cradled in freshly made pita bread.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
She thought of switching to her left hand, but because she was right-handed she was afraid she might spill the sauce with her left hand, which could enrage Count Olaf again.
From "The Bad Beginning" by Lemony Snicket
Emma Robins, from Reading, says broccoli hidden in pesto pasta is a favourite for her three-year-old son Alfred, as well as veg pulsed into pasta sauces.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Apasta bar with Pasta Garofalo, Carbone sauces, homemade pesto, grilled chicken, vegetables and plenty of Parmigiano Reggiano.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
One trigger people tend to forget: red-meat stock used in a lot of sauces and broths in restaurants.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
“If you’re traveling within the U.S., make sure to keep your carry-on sauces to 3.4 oz or less and place any larger containers in your checked bags.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
There are no lobsters like these—simply boiled, with no fancy sauces, only melted butter and lemon, they have no equals anywhere.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
Ferrell said later that he was glad to be in the back row because it meant nobody behind him got sauced.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
The capers themselves are fried to create a crisp garnish for the sauced asparagus.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 12, 2023
Taste a sauced noodle, and adjust the seasoning again if needed.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2023
Riding the wave of an obsessive interest in all forms of fried chicken, crispy chicken skins are the base for nachos at pop-ups, and sauced and spiced as appetizers in restaurants.
From New York Times ● Dec. 27, 2022
"That was good, but now I'd like a leg of Iamb. A whole leg, Just for me, sauced with mint and honey and cloves. Did you see any lambs?"
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Of this generous, very pretty platter, my only sorrow was an uneven saucing, leaving one side somewhat bereft of the overall excellence.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 26, 2023
How does one cram the time capsule of an entire seasoning and saucing life into a 32-quart Igloo?
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2022
Repeat with the remaining wings and let the last batch rest for 2 minutes before saucing.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 15, 2021
Ms. Sarikaya laughed and then the two of them discussed whether to blanch noodles before saucing them; Ms. Olsen prefers a quick boil, while Ms. Sarikaya worries that it will leave the noddles too watery.
From New York Times ● Aug. 10, 2017
Then Albert Edward stumbled within and The O'Murphy hung about outside saucing the brass-collared Staff dogs and waiting to gather up what fragments remained of his chum's body after the General had done with it.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 152, June 6, 1917 by Various
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.
