Word of the Day Archive
Thursday May 2, 2013
saccharine \SAK-er-in, -uh-reen, -uh-rahyn\
, adjective:
1. exaggeratedly sweet or sentimental: a saccharine smile; a saccharine song of undying love.
2. of the nature of or resembling that of sugar: a powdery substance with a saccharine taste.
3. containing or yielding sugar.
4. a very sweet to the taste; sugary: a saccharine dessert.
5. cloyingly agreeable or ingratiating: a saccharine personality.
Nellie's saccharine Bryn Mawr voice tried to turn away the other voice that again said, "Your incredible Bryn Mawr, Nell."
-- H.D., HERmione, 1927
There are lovely if saccharine ballads destined to be played at weddings in the year 2020...
-- Ben Greenman, "The Wonder Stuff," The New Yorker, October 17, 2005
We need a harder-edged piece to balance all the saccharine in this issue.
-- Sherri Wood Emmons, The Weight of Small Things, 2013
Saccharine comes from the Sanskrit word śarkarā meaning "sugar."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for saccharine
