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
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.
And because cream without acid reads as flat, finish with restraint: a small splash of Crystal Hot Sauce for vinegar and gentle heat, and the smallest squeeze of lemon juice for brightness.
From Salon • Apr. 7, 2026
He also joked that the Colts already have a star player who wears jersey No. 1 — cornerback Sauce Gardner — and they knew “I gotta get No. 1.”
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 11, 2025
It was such a dominant showing that the Colts went all-in on a Super Bowl run by trading two first round picks to acquire shutdown cornerback Sauce Gardner at the trade deadline.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 9, 2025
Kayanoya Double-Aging Soy Sauce – If you’re looking to truly level up your at-home sushi, stop grabbing whatever soy sauce’s on the grocery shelf.
From Salon • Dec. 4, 2025
Sauce was dribbling out of the end of the taco and onto her hand.
From "Patina" by Jason Reynolds
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.
