adjective
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impertinent
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pert; jaunty
a saucy hat
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of saucy
Explanation
You can use saucy to describe someone who likes to cause trouble, but usually in a playful and funny way. Saucy is also a good word for a person who really likes to flirt. In the novel Oliver Twist, the character the Artful Dodger goes to court for stealing. During his hearing, the ten-year-old screams, “I am an Englishman; where are my rights?” Saucy words from a saucy child. A saucy comment makes people gasp because it’s surprising and a little dangerous or edgy. Saucy can also describe a person who is boldly flirtatious.
Vocabulary lists containing saucy
Words from Shakespearean Insults
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Twelfth Night
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"Two Kinds" by Amy Tan
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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:
Meal one: Something saucy, a little elegant Early in the week, I like to lean into moisture — something that coaxes the chicken back to life in a way that feels intentional, not remedial.
From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2026
If I’m feeling saucy, shredded iceberg and Swiss join the party.
From Salon ● Jan. 29, 2026
Lola Young, “Messy” From the nation — not to mention the performing arts academy — that brought you “Rehab” comes another instant classic of saucy throwback soul.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2025
Berwick spent more than 25 years building Bravo into a saucy reality TV hit-making machine, with such shows as “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” “Real Housewives” and “Love Island.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2025
Tinkerbell’s once perfect little nose had completely disappeared, and her saucy red lips had been replaced with an ugly, lopsided smear.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
Green has a toothier texture and fresher flavor; red is saucier with dusky, earthen undertones.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026
It is launching improvements to its burgers including softer buns that are toasted and saucier Big Macs.
From Reuters ● Apr. 25, 2023
Just as everyone in a restaurant kitchen has their roles to play, from saucier to sommelier, so too are roles assigned at holiday dinner.
From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2022
And he has also put his stamp on some shapes like a wide, two-handled rondeau and a saucier, new to Hestan’s inventory.
From New York Times ● Jan. 10, 2022
Mrs. Wellington," he said at length, "you have a saucier par excellence.
From Prince or Chauffeur? A Story of Newport by J. V. McFall
Ernst Lubitsch is best remembered today for directing some of the wittiest, sauciest Hollywood romantic comedies of the 1930s and ’40s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026
The new culinary spinoff “Chef’s Table: BBQ” travels the world in search of the smokiest, sauciest, rib-stickingest barbecue.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2020
Shirky’s was only the sauciest form of an argument I heard whenever I mentioned to my techno-utopian friends that I identified with Carr’s distress.
From Slate ● Aug. 16, 2018
What emerges from the churning wash of “Travesties” is one of the sweetest, sauciest and strangest defenses of art ever to land on a stage.
From New York Times ● Apr. 24, 2018
You would lie in my arms and stare up at me with the sauciest expression, as much as to say, ‘Just wait till I’m a bit bigger, I’ll lead you a dance.’
From Paddy-The-Next-Best-Thing by Gertrude Page
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.
