Sauce Meaning
/sɔːs/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA liquid (often thickened) condiment or accompaniment to food.
nounTomato sauce (similar to US tomato ketchup), as in
Sentence Examples
Hunger is the best sauce.
What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
The tomatoes give extra flavour to the sauce.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The chef added a red tomato ____ to the spaghetti to make it tasty.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She poured a rich tomato ____ over the pasta and sprinkled it with parmesan.
Word Origin & History
PIE word *sḗh₂l 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 (“to 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).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[Prince Paul.] […] But, believe me, you are wrong to run down cookery. For myself, the only immortality I desire is to invent a new sauce. I have never had time enough to think seriously about it, but I feel it is in me, I feel it is in me."
— 1883, Oscar Wilde, Vera […] :
"You could just use ordinary shop-bought kecap manis to marinade the meat, but making your own is easy, has a far more elegant fragrance and is, above all, such a great brag! Flavouring kecap manis is an intensely personal thing, so try this version now and next time cook the sauce down with crushed, split lemongrass and a shredded lime leaf."
— 2015 October 27, Matt Preston, The Simple Secrets to Cooking Everything Better, Plum, →ISBN, page 192:
"[…] she was thinking of her first husband, who was a heel to end all heels and a constant pain in the neck to her till one night he most fortunately walked into the River Thames while under the influence of the sauce and didn't come up for days."
— 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
"I've been pretty much off the sauce during the last week, trying to get Pepper to like me again. (Horace won't drink with me any more.)"
— 1993, Tristan Hawkins, Pepper, London: Flamingo, →ISBN, page 110:
""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."
— 1954, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, volume 2, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., published 1968, →ISBN, page 691:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The chef added a red tomato ____ to the spaghetti to make it tasty.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She poured a rich tomato ____ over the pasta and sprinkled it with parmesan.