sugary
Americanadjective
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of, containing, or resembling sugar.
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sweet; excessively sweet.
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honeyed; cloying; deceitfully agreeable.
sugary words of greeting.
adjective
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of, like, or containing sugar
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containing too much sugar; excessively sweet
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deceptively pleasant; insincere
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sugary
Explanation
Something that's literally sugary is extremely sweet, like a sugary root beer float. If something is figuratively sugary, it's overly sentimental. Candy corn, soft drinks, and jelly beans are all sugary — and so is the sappy Valentine's Day card your sister wrote to her crush. The adjective sugary comes from sugar, an English word that, unusually, traces its origin back to Sanskrit. Sugar comes from sharkara, "ground or candied sugar."
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.
From next year, Europe's biggest economy is set to join many other countries by levying a tax on sugary drinks in a bid to raise funds to support its under-pressure health system.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
Kennedy and several other Cabinet members have reportedly embraced versions of the plan, which emphasizes grass-fed meat and fermented foods while eliminating alcohol and sugary foods.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
It’s a world of classical pianists and opera singers rather than thumping bass, Gothic palaces over private islands in the Bahamas and fine Barolo instead of sugary margaritas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
It leaned on new products like novelty sugary drinks and limited-offer items like S’mores beverages that resonated “particularly well” with Gen Z customers, he added.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
Doctors warn that young people are gaining too much weight from eating sugary snacks; parents learn that kids who drink too many sweet sodas can cycle between manic sugar“highs” and grinding sugar “crashes.”
From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson
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.
