sugarcoating

American  

[shoog-er-koh-ting] / ˈʃʊg ərˌkoʊ tɪŋ /

noun

1. the act or process of covering something with sugar.

2. a coating or layer of sugar or a sugary substance.

3. a thing used to make something else considered unpleasant or disagreeable seem attractive or palatable.

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Etymology

Origin of sugarcoating

First recorded in 1905–10; sugar + coat + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

“But you can’t do that if you’re sugarcoating it.”

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 30, 2025

“There’s no sugarcoating this,” Freeman echoed a few weeks later, when another confounding sweep to the Pittsburgh Pirates in early September was followed by another walk-off loss to the Orioles in team’s series-opener in Baltimore.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 20, 2025

BENTONVILLE, Ark.—Walmart WMT 0.36%increase; green up pointing triangle executives aren’t sugarcoating the message: Artificial intelligence will wipe out some jobs and reshape its workforce.

From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 27, 2025

“There are no excuses, and there is no sugarcoating what has happened. We need to double down on safety, transparency and community engagement.”

From Washington Times • Nov. 21, 2023

There was no sugarcoating the fact that Dad’s skills in the kitchen were the equivalent of mine at keeping a clean room.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas