syrupy
Americanadjective
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having the appearance or quality of syrup; thick or sweet.
syrupy coffee.
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sentimental or saccharine; mawkish.
a syrupy manner; a syrupy poem.
adjective
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(of a liquid) thick or sweet
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cloyingly sentimental
a syrupy version of the Blue Danube
Etymology
Origin of syrupy
Explanation
Syrupy things are very, very sweet—probably a little too sweet! A syrupy dessert might make your teeth hurt. Things that are literally syrupy have the drippy, sticky sweetness of molasses or honey. If something is figuratively syrupy, it's so sentimental that it makes you cringe, like syrupy love songs or syrupy greeting cards. The adjective syrupy comes from syrup, "thick, sweet liquid," from the Arabic sharab, "beverage."
Vocabulary lists containing syrupy
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In most standard hydraulic systems, fluid becomes syrupy and can affect everything from aircraft controls to missile launchers and radar masts.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 27, 2025
Always a moment when the heat is heavy but not unwelcome, when the air feels syrupy and gold, and dinner is less a thing to be cooked than a thing to be assembled.
From Salon • Jun. 23, 2025
His bone-dry delivery makes it so that the sour is never too sharp and the sentimental is never too syrupy.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 28, 2025
A new bakery cafe has just opened, offering ciabatta and sourdough loaves as well as hot cross buns, syrupy cakes, vegetable quiches and of course coffee.
From BBC • Mar. 8, 2025
He had visited the homes of dozens of her relatives, eaten the plates full of syrupy mishti, patiently posed for countless photographs on rooftops, surrounded by her cousins.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
