saucer
Americannoun
-
saucers
plural
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a small, round, shallow dish to hold a cup.
-
something resembling a saucer, as in shape.
noun
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a small round dish on which a cup is set
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any similar dish
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of saucer
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English word from Old French word saussier. See sauce, -er 2
Explanation
A saucer is a small, rounded dish that sits beneath a tea or coffee cup. Other kinds of saucers include objects with a similar round shape — like a flying saucer. Saucers that live under cups are useful for catching drips from and protecting the table. Many mugs and cups come without saucers, but the cups in a traditional tea service have matching saucers, and coffee cups at a restaurant or cafe are also frequently served with saucers. Objects with a similar round shape can also be called saucers, including flying saucers and saucer-shaped TV antennas. The very earliest saucers were small sauce dishes, and the word stems from the Latin salsus, or "sauce."
Vocabulary lists containing saucer
Novel Study: Ten Days in a Mad-House, Chapters I–X
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Selection Vocabulary 3, Unit 6
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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:
George aero-commutes in a glass-domed saucer that folds into a briefcase, and still manages to get stuck in traffic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2026
Among the munitions were dozens of thick, green plastic discs about the diameter of a saucer.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2025
Let’s think about the terrifying theremin line that snakes through “Good Vibrations” like it’s tugging a flying saucer down onto Dockweiler Beach.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2025
Another spacecraft will then snag the samples and send them to Earth, where they’ll fall to the same Utah desert where Hays watched the saucer drop last year.
From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2024
When he served them tea, he took his time rearranging the biscuits on the saucer so that he could linger and listen to her, until Master said, “That’s quite all right, my good man.”
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
After she downsized, she opened her cupboard and showed him four plates, four saucers, four cups and four bowls.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
An Air Force intelligence report -- marked "top secret" -- from November of the following year features information on reported sightings of "unidentified aircraft" and "flying saucers."
From Barron's ● May 8, 2026
What has been observed may look like flying saucers but they are actually lenticular clouds, also referred to by some as pancake or UFO clouds.
From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2025
The room was dimly lit, with an espresso machine and several small tables where men in suits sat with tiny cups and saucers before them.
From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2024
I fill the heavy silver kettle with water and take out the worn mugs we normally use, before thinking twice and pulling out the matching gold-rimmed teacups and saucers.
From "Amina's Voice" by Hena Khan
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