sweeten
/'swi:tn/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Verb (transitive):
- To make something taste sweeter: To add sugar, honey, or another sweet substance to food or drink.
- To make something more pleasant, agreeable, or attractive: To improve the terms or appeal of an offer, situation, or deal.
Verb (intransitive):
- To become sweet: To develop a sweet taste or a more pleasant character.
Examples
- Verb (transitive):
- She will sweeten the tea with a spoonful of honey.
- To close the sale, the company decided to sweeten the deal by offering free installation.
- Verb (intransitive):
- The apples sweeten as they ripen on the tree.
Advanced Usage
- "to sweeten the pot": To make an offer more attractive, especially in a negotiation or competition.
- They sweetened the pot with a signing bonus to attract the best candidate.
- "to sweeten someone up": To try to make someone more favorable or agreeable, often by being nice or giving gifts.
- He brought flowers to sweeten her up before asking for a favor.
Variants and Related Words
- Sweetener (noun): A substance used to sweeten food or drink; also, an extra incentive offered to make a deal more attractive.
- Artificial sweeteners are common in diet drinks.
- The signing bonus was the key sweetener in the contract.
- Sweet (adjective): Having the pleasant taste characteristic of sugar or honey.
- Sweetening (noun): The act of making something sweet; a substance that sweetens.
Synonyms
- Sugar (verb): To sweeten with sugar.
- Enhance: To intensify or improve the quality of something.
- Make more palatable: To make something more acceptable or easier to accept.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Sweeten up: (See "to sweeten someone up" under Advanced Usage).
Related Idioms
- To sugar/sweeten the pill: To make something unpleasant seem more acceptable.
- The manager tried to sweeten the pill of the pay freeze by promising better benefits.
Verb
- make sweeter, more pleasant, or more agreeable
- sweeten a deal
- make sweeter in taste