Link Centre Dictionary

sugarcoat

su·gar·coat

UK/ˈʃʊɡəˌkəʊt/ US/ˈʃʊɡɚˌkoʊt/ rare

verb

1.

coat with something sweet, such as a hard sugar glaze

Synonyms
2.

cause to appear more pleasant or appealing

  • “The mayor did not sugarcoat the reality of the tax cuts”

Origin

From sugar + coat; figurative sense from the practice of coating medicinal tablets or pills with sugar in order to disguise their unpleasant taste (sugarcoating the pill).

Phrases

  • sugarcoat a bitter pill

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.