SUGAR | Meaning, Definition In Cambridge English Dictionary

Meaning of sugar in English sugarnoun uk /ˈʃʊɡ.ər/ us /ˈʃʊɡ.ɚ/ Add to word list Add to word list A1 [ C or U ] a sweet substance especially from the plants sugar cane and sugar beet, used to make food and drinks sweet: UK Tea with milk and two sugars (= spoonfuls or lumps of sugar), please.take sugar I don't take sugar in my coffee, thanks.brown sugar Beat together the butter and brown sugar until light and creamy.sugar bowl See also brown sugar caster sugar confectioners' sugar demerara sugar granulated sugar icing sugar palm sugar powdered sugar superfine sugar   Science Photo Library/GettyImages [ C ]   chemistry   specialized any of several types of simple carbohydrate that dissolves in water: Glucose and lactose are sugars. [ as form of address ] mainly US a friendly way of talking to someone that you know: Hi, sugar, did you have a good day at school?

• Cream the butter and sugar together.
• Add one dessertspoon of sugar.
• You make wine by leaving grape juice to ferment until all the sugar has turned to alcohol.
• Meringues are made from sugar and egg whites.
• a spoonful of sugar

Sugar & sugar substitutes

• agave
• agave nectar
• aspartame
• barley malt
• black treacle
• demerara sugar
• dextrose
• fructose
• glucose
• glucose syrup
• maltase
• maltose
• maple sugar
• maple syrup
• molasses
• stevia
• sucralose
• sucrose
• sugar coating
• sugar cube

See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Affectionate terms of address

Idiom

sugar and spice sugarexclamation UK uk /ˈʃʊɡ.ər/ us /ˈʃʊɡ.ɚ/ polite word for shit , used when something annoying happens: Oh sugar, I've just spilled coffee all down my jacket! Linguistics: interjections

• aiyo
• attaboy
• attagirl
• auf Wiedersehen
• aw shucks
• bless you! idiom
• doctor
• guess
• hip
• lord
• lordy
• marry
• mazel tov
• more
• roll
• yeah, right! idiom
• yech
• yeet
• yoicks
• yoink

See more results » sugarverb [ T ] uk /ˈʃʊɡ.ər/ us /ˈʃʊɡ.ɚ/ to put sugar in or on something: He sugared the rims of the martini glasses. sugared donuts Sugar & sugar substitutes

• agave
• agave nectar
• aspartame
• barley malt
• black treacle
• demerara sugar
• dextrose
• fructose
• glucose
• glucose syrup
• maltase
• maltose
• maple sugar
• maple syrup
• molasses
• stevia
• sucralose
• sucrose
• sugar coating
• sugar cube

See more results » (Definition of sugar from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

sugar | American Dictionary

sugarnoun [ U ] us /ˈʃʊɡ·ər/ Add to word list Add to word list biology a sweet substance obtained esp. from particular plants and used to make food and drinks sweet (Definition of sugar from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of sugar

sugar Therefore, a separation between sugars and organic or silage acids was needed. From the Cambridge English Corpus The tomato seeds induced to germinate release soluble sugars into the incubation medium, including a significant amount of mannose, which indicates active polysaccharide degradation. From the Cambridge English Corpus Furthermore, the content of reducing sugars in embryos from dormant grains was about half of that from non-dormant grains. From the Cambridge English Corpus This work also calculates income elasticities for the various foodstuffs and confirms the luxury nature of tea and sugar. From the Cambridge English Corpus The serotyped strains were identified using biochemical tests such as amino acid and sugar assimilation tests. From the Cambridge English Corpus These sugars may be one component of the suite of adaptations that allow anhydrobiotes to survive the loss of most of their cellular water. From the Cambridge English Corpus We take the liberty of sugaring the syntax somewhat so that we may reuse without explanation the more mathematical notation already employed in this paper. From the Cambridge English Corpus To keep the notation brief, we use various forms of syntactic sugar for the sums and products of the target calculus. From the Cambridge English Corpus While this produced additional sugar, its costs were excessively high. From the Cambridge English Corpus These results indicate that the sugar residues of glycoproteins may play roles in promoting embryo maturation. From the Cambridge English Corpus In the sugar fields, oxen replaced tractors in hauling cane to the mills, and bagasse was used as fuel to conserve oil. From the Cambridge English Corpus Afterwards, we will introduce a comprehensive system of syntactic sugar that simplifies the process of constructing terms. From the Cambridge English Corpus The labour requirements of the sugar companies had to be weighed against the political realities of mass unemployment and the rise of popular nationalism. From the Cambridge English Corpus In short, much of the trading system reduces to two components : manufactures and sugar. From the Cambridge English Corpus Indeed, we are currently working on adding just such syntactic sugar: lambdas, let-bindings, donotation for monads, etc. From the Cambridge English Corpus See all examples of sugar These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with sugar

sugar

These are words often used in combination with sugar.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

added sugarThere is also a levy on added sugar. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0   amount of sugarThe shopkeeper sent down some tea and a generous amount of sugar. From the Cambridge English Corpus   granulated sugarAs a result, there was a corresponding increase in the first-hand price of granulated sugar. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0   These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. See all collocations with sugar What is the pronunciation of sugar?

Translations of sugar

in Chinese (Traditional) 糖, （尤指）蔗糖, 糖（總稱，指溶於水的碳水化合物）… See more in Chinese (Simplified) 糖，食糖, （尤指）蔗糖, 糖（总称，指溶于水的碳水化合物）… See more in Spanish azúcar, cariño, azucarar… See more in Portuguese açúcar, açúcar [masculine]… See more in Marathi in Japanese in Turkish in French in Catalan in Dutch in Tamil in Hindi in Gujarati in Danish in Swedish in Malay in German in Norwegian in Urdu in Ukrainian in Telugu in Bengali in Czech in Indonesian in Thai in Vietnamese in Polish in Korean in Italian साखर… See more 砂糖, 砂糖（さとう）… See more şeker, şeker koymak/katmak… See more sucre [masculine], sucre, sucrer… See more sucre… See more suiker, suikeren… See more குறிப்பாக கரும்பு மற்றும் சர்க்கரைவள்ளிக்கிழங்கு தாவரங்களிலிருந்து ஒரு இனிப்பு பொருள், உணவு மற்றும் பானங்களை இனிப்பாக மாற்ற பயன்படுகிறது… See more चीनी… See more ખાંડ… See more sukker, søde, komme sukker på… See more socker, sockra… See more gula, memaniskan… See more der Zucker, zuckern… See more sukker [neuter], sukker, strø sukker på… See more چینی… See more цукор, підсолоджувати, обцукровувати… See more పంచదార… See more চিনি, আখ ও চিনির বীট গাছ থেকে তৈরি একটি মিস্টি পদার্থ, যা খাবার ও পানীয়তে মিস্টি স্বাদ আনার জন্য ব্যবহৃত হয়… See more cukr, sladit… See more gula, menggulai… See more น้ำตาล, ใส่น้ำตาล… See more đường, làm ngọt bằng đường… See more cukier, łyżeczka cukru, słodzić… See more 설탕… See more zucchero, zuccherare… See more Need a translator?

Get a quick, free translation!

Translator tool

Browse

suffusion BETA Sufi Sufic Sufism sugar sugar and spice idiom sugar apple sugar beet sugar cane {{#randomImageQuizHook.filename}} {{#randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes Try a quiz now {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{^randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.filename}}

More meanings of sugar

• non-sugar
• sugar pea
• sugar pie
• blood sugar
• brown sugar
• cane sugar
• icing sugar

See all meanings

• sugar the pill idiom
• sugar and spice idiom
• sugar the pill, at sweeten the pill idiom

See all idioms and phrases

Word of the Day

reboot

UK /ˌriːˈbuːt/ US /ˌriːˈbuːt/

(of a computer) to switch off and then start again immediately, or to make a computer do this

About this

Blog

Red-hot and roasting: words for describing things that are hot.

December 24, 2025 Read More

New Words

frost-jacking December 29, 2026 More new words has been added to list To top AI Assistant Contents EnglishAmericanExamplesCollocationsTranslations AI Assistant {{#displayLoginPopup}} Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Learn more with +Plus

Sign up for free and get access to exclusive content: Free word lists and quizzes from Cambridge Tools to create your own word lists and quizzes Word lists shared by our community of dictionary fans Sign up now or Log in Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Learn more with +Plus

Create word lists and quizzes for free Sign up now or Log in {{/displayLoginPopup}} {{#displayClassicSurvey}} {{/displayClassicSurvey}}

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus
• My profile
• +Plus help
• Log out

AI Assistant Dictionary Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English Translations Click on the arrows to change the translation direction. Bilingual Dictionaries English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English English–Danish Danish–English English–Dutch Dutch–English English–French French–English English–German German–English English–Indonesian Indonesian–English English–Italian Italian–English English–Japanese Japanese–English English–Norwegian Norwegian–English English–Polish Polish–English English–Portuguese Portuguese–English English–Spanish Spanish–English English–Swedish Swedish–English Semi-bilingual Dictionaries English–Arabic English–Bengali English–Catalan English–Czech English–Gujarati English–Hindi English–Korean English–Malay English–Marathi English–Russian English–Tamil English–Telugu English–Thai English–Turkish English–Ukrainian English–Urdu English–Vietnamese Translate Grammar Thesaurus Pronunciation Cambridge Dictionary +Plus Games {{userName}}

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus
• My profile
• +Plus help
• Log out

Log in / Sign up English (UK) Change English (UK) English (US) Español Português 中文 (简体) 正體中文 (繁體) Dansk Deutsch Français Italiano Nederlands Norsk Polski Русский Türkçe Tiếng Việt Svenska Українська 日本語 한국어 ગુજરાતી தமிழ் తెలుగు বাঙ্গালি मराठी हिंदी Follow us Choose a dictionary

• Recent and Recommended {{#preferredDictionaries}} {{name}} {{/preferredDictionaries}}
• Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English
• Grammar and thesaurus Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English Grammar Thesaurus
• Pronunciation British and American pronunciations with audio English Pronunciation
• Translation Click on the arrows to change the translation direction. Bilingual Dictionaries
  • English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English
  • English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English
  • English–Danish Danish–English
  • English–Dutch Dutch–English
  • English–French French–English
  • English–German German–English
  • English–Indonesian Indonesian–English
  • English–Italian Italian–English
  • English–Japanese Japanese–English
  • English–Norwegian Norwegian–English
  • English–Polish Polish–English
  • English–Portuguese Portuguese–English
  • English–Spanish Spanish–English
  • English–Swedish Swedish–English
  Semi-bilingual Dictionaries English–Arabic English–Bengali English–Catalan English–Czech English–Gujarati English–Hindi English–Korean English–Malay English–Marathi English–Russian English–Tamil English–Telugu English–Thai English–Turkish English–Ukrainian English–Urdu English–Vietnamese
• Dictionary +Plus Word Lists

Choose your language English (UK) English (US) Español Português 中文 (简体) 正體中文 (繁體) Dansk Deutsch Français Italiano Nederlands Norsk Polski Русский Türkçe Tiếng Việt Svenska Українська 日本語 한국어 ગુજરાતી தமிழ் తెలుగు বাঙ্গালি मराठी हिंदी Contents

• English   NounExclamationVerb
• American   Noun
• Examples
• Collocations

• Translations
• Grammar
• All translations

My word lists

To add sugar to a word list please sign up or log in.

Sign up or Log in My word lists

Add sugar to one of your lists below, or create a new one.

{{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

Something went wrong.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}} {{name}} More Go to your word lists {{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

Something went wrong.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}} Tell us about this example sentence: The word in the example sentence does not match the entry word. The sentence contains offensive content. Cancel Submit Thanks! Your feedback will be reviewed. {{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

There was a problem sending your report.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}} The word in the example sentence does not match the entry word. The sentence contains offensive content. Cancel Submit Thanks! Your feedback will be reviewed. {{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

There was a problem sending your report.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}}