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.
Ultra-processed foods include products such as packaged snacks, fast food, sugary drinks, and other industrially manufactured foods.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
He's just been highlighting the high sugar content in various breakfast cereals while waving an empty box of a very sugary and chocolatey one at me.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
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
I poured myself a bowl of cereal, Fruity Pebbles, because that’s what I had for about every meal that summer, which caused the roof of my mouth to be constantly coated in a sugary film.
From "Where Things Come Back" by John Corey Whaley
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