sweeten en · VERB
Pronunciation
Etymology
From sweet + -en. Eclipsed non-native Middle English doucen and endoucen, borrowed from Old French adoucir and endoucir (“to sweeten”).
Meanings
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(transitive) To make sweet to the taste.
to sweeten tea
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(transitive) To make (more) pleasant or to the mind or feelings.
to sweeten friendship
to sweeten life
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(transitive) To make mild or kind; to soften.
to sweeten the temper
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(transitive) To make less painful or laborious; to relieve.
to sweeten the cares of life
Our God to bless out home delights, / And sweeten every secret tear:— [...]
1827, [John Keble], “Last Sunday after Trinity”, in The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume II, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 99:
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(transitive) To soften to the eye; to make delicate.
Correggio has made his memory immortal by the strength he has given to his figures, and by sweetening his lights and shadows, and melting them into each other.
1695, John Dryden, De Arte Graphica:
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(transitive) To make pure and healthful by destroying noxious matter.
to sweeten the air
to sweeten rooms or apartments that have been infected
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(transitive) To make warm and fertile.
to dry and sweeten soils
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(transitive) To raise the pH of (a soil) by adding alkali.
[T]hey had prepared the garden carefully, plowing and sweetening the dirt with fireplace ashes and manure from the barn[.]
1997, Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain, London: Hodder and Stoughton, page 128:
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(transitive) To restore to purity; to free from taint.
to sweeten water, butter, or meat
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(transitive) To make more attractive; said of offers in negotiations.
to sweeten the deal by increasing the price offered
- (intransitive) To become sweet.
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(transitive) To supplement (a composition) with additional instruments, especially strings.
Rather than employ strings to “sweeten” the songs, Motown's arrangements used strings as a timbral layer, in conjunction with syncopated horn lines, for a fuller sound; […]
2014, Mellonee V. Burnim, Portia K. Maultsby, African American Music: An Introduction, page 259:In most popular music the bowed strings usually play long, sustained, sweeping parts, and are sometimes added to a vocal track later in a process known as sweetening.
2011, Russell Dean Vines, Composing Digital Music For Dummies, page 326:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| sweetening | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| sweetened | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| sweetened | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| sweetens | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic |
Antonyms
sour (antonym(s) of “to make warm and fertile”)
Deriveds
oversweeten · artificially sweetened · unsweeten · sweeten up · sweeten the pill · presweeten · back-sweeten · sweetener · resweeten · outsweeten · sweeten the pot · besweeten
Translations (80)
fr édulcorer (to make sweet to the taste) · de süß werden (to become sweet) · sv söta (to make sweet to the taste) · id memaniskan (to make sweet to the taste) · it zuccherare (to make sweet to the taste) · uk соло́дшати (to become sweet) · ga milsigh (to make sweet to the taste) · et magustama (to make sweet to the taste) · ru сласти́ть (to make sweet to the taste) · da søde (to make sweet to the taste) · scn nnùciri (to make sweet to the taste) · es adulciguar (to make sweet to the taste) · id mempermanis (to make sweet to the taste) · sc indurciai (to make sweet to the taste) · mk засладува (to make sweet to the taste) · lb séissen (to make sweet to the taste) · mi whakareka (to make sweet to the taste) · it addolcire (to make sweet to the taste) · ca endolcir (to make sweet to the taste) · es asainetear (to make more attractive; said of offers in negotiations) · es adulcir (to make sweet to the taste) · scn nnuciri (to become sweet) · hu édesül (to become sweet) · lv saldināt (to make sweet to the taste) · es hacer más atrayente (to make more attractive; said of offers in negotiations) · scn nnùciri (to make more attractive; said of offers in negotiations) · ko 달게 하다 (to make sweet to the taste) · cs sladit (to make sweet to the taste) · ru подсласти́ть (to make sweet to the taste) · la dulcificō (to make sweet to the taste) · nl zoeten (to make sweet to the taste) · sc indulchire (to make sweet to the taste) · sq ëmbëlsuar (to become sweet) · cmn 加甜 (to make sweet to the taste) · ro îndulci (to make sweet to the taste) · es salpimentar (to make more attractive; said of offers in negotiations) · pt adoçar (to make sweet to the taste) · sdc indutzà (to make sweet to the taste) · ru подслаща́ть (to make sweet to the taste) · es amenizar (to make more attractive; said of offers in negotiations) · fi makeuttaa (to make sweet to the taste) · hu édesít (to make sweet to the taste) · hu édesedik (to become sweet) · de versüßen (to make more attractive; said of offers in negotiations) · la condulcō (to make sweet to the taste) · sq ëmbëlsi (to make sweet to the taste) · eo dolĉigi (to make sweet to the taste) · es endulcecer (to make sweet to the taste) · pl osłodzić (to make sweet to the taste) · sdn indulcí (to make sweet to the taste) · pl słodzić (to make sweet to the taste) · es endulzar (to make sweet to the taste) · qu misk'ichay (to make sweet to the taste) · aln amelzoj (to make sweet to the taste) · da forsøde (to make sweet to the taste) · de süßen (to make sweet to the taste) · rup ãndultsescu (to make sweet to the taste) · es hacer más atractivo (to make more attractive; said of offers in negotiations) · es dulcificar (to make sweet to the taste) · fr adoucir (to make sweet to the taste) · ang swētan (to make sweet to the taste) · rup ndultsescu (to make sweet to the taste) · ru подсла́щивать (to make sweet to the taste) · sq ëmbëlson (to make more attractive; said of offers in negotiations) · la dulcō (to make sweet to the taste) · uk підсолоди́ти (to make sweet to the taste) · la dulcōrō (to make sweet to the taste) · bg подслаждам (to make sweet to the taste) · nrf adouochi (to make sweet to the taste) · fr dulcifier (to make sweet to the taste) · pt adocicar (to make sweet to the taste) · es edulcorar (to make sweet to the taste) · bg смекчавам (to make more attractive; said of offers in negotiations) · nv łikango íílééh (to make sweet to the taste) · uk посоло́дшати (to become sweet) · fr sucrer (to make sweet to the taste) · grc γλυκαίνω (to make sweet to the taste) · uk підсоло́джувати (to make sweet to the taste) · gl adozar (to make sweet to the taste) · nv yiłkąąh (to make sweet to the taste)