What does "sauce" mean?
A liquid (often thickened) condiment or accompaniment to food.
Sauce
/sɔːs/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A liquid (often thickened) condiment or accompaniment to food.
- Grammar: sauce is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: alcohol, all sorts, allemande, answer back.
- Useful contrasts: blandness, decorum, dry.
- Usage evidence: What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
How to use "sauce"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "sauce" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "sauce" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "sauce" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "sauce" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "sauce" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "alcohol" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "sauce", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A liquid (often thickened) condiment or accompaniment to food. countable, uncountable
"apple sauce; mint sauce"
- 2 Alternative form of source, often used when requesting the source of an image or other posted material. Internet, alt-of, alternative
- 3 flavorful relish or dressing or topping served as an accompaniment to food wordnet
- 4 Tomato sauce (similar to US tomato ketchup), as in Australia, India, New-Zealand, UK, countable, uncountable
"[meat] pie and [tomato] sauce"
- 5 Alcohol, booze. countable, slang, uncountable
"Maybe you should lay off the sauce."
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 Vitality; capability or talent. countable, slang, uncountable
"It's over for that guy. He lost the sauce."
- 7 Anabolic steroids. countable, uncountable
- 8 A soft crayon for use in stump drawing or in shading with the stump. countable, uncountable
- 9 Cheek; impertinence; backtalk; sass. countable, dated, uncountable
""See here, Captain!" He planted himself squarely in front of Faramir, his hands on his hips, and a look on his face as if he was addressing a young hobbit who had offered him what he called "sauce" when questioned about visiting the orchard."
- 10 Vegetables. US, countable, obsolete, slang, uncountable
"I wanted cabbage or potaters, or most any sort o' garden sarse [...]"
- 11 Any garden vegetables eaten with meat. UK, US, countable, dialectal, obsolete, uncountable
"Roots, herbs, vine fruits, and salad flowers […] they dish up various ways, and find them very delicious sauce to their meats, both roasted and boiled, fresh and salt."
Verb
- 1 To add sauce to; to season.
- 2 add zest or flavor to, make more interesting wordnet
- 3 To cause to relish anything, as if with a sauce; to tickle or gratify, as the palate; to please; to stimulate.
"Earth, yield me roots; / Who seeks for better of thee, sauce his palate / With thy most operant poison!"
- 4 dress (food) with a relish wordnet
- 5 To make poignant; to give zest, flavour or interest to; to set off; to vary and render attractive.
"Then fell she to sauce her desires with threatenings."
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 behave saucily or impudently towards wordnet
- 7 To treat with bitter, pert, or tart language; to be impudent or saucy to. colloquial
"I'll sauce her with bitter words."
- 8 To send or hand over. slang
Proper Noun
- 1 Acronym of Standard Architecture for Universal Comment Extensions. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "sauce"?
Common synonyms include: alcohol, all sorts, allemande, answer back, aqua vitae, assemblage.
How do you use "sauce" in a sentence?
What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
How do you pronounce "sauce"?
Pronounced /sɔːs/.
Etymology
PIE word *séh₂ls From Middle English sauce, from Old French sause, from Vulgar Latin *salsa, noun use of the feminine of Latin salsus (“salted”), past participle of saliō (“I salt”), from sal. Doublet of salsa. For the meaning development compare Ancient Greek ἥδυσμα (hḗdusma) ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swéh₂dus (whence also English sweet).