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\ ˈsas 
\
\Definition of sass
(Entry 1 of 2)
1 informal
a : impudent speech : back talk She takes no sass from her students.
b : bold rudeness or impertinence especially when considered playful, appealing, or courageous
It is all dished out by combat-ready waitresses whose borscht belt sass lends extra spice to the meal.— Jane and Michael Stern … Ferraro showed off her sass. She critiqued President Reagan by name with a series of crowd pleasing one-liners.— Kathy Kiely
2 informal : an appealingly exciting, lively, or spirited quality
…Mick Jagger's recent solo may be high on style and sass, but it's tough to beat Talk Is Cheap for real primitive cool.— David Fricke As they have for a decade, the international wealthy favor New York City for its comparative safety and social sass.— J. D. Reed Like a vintage jazz tune, fine Scotch delivers smooth flavor and sass.— Audarshia Townsend
sass
verbsassed; sassing; sasses
Definition of sass (Entry 2 of 2)
: to talk impudently or disrespectfully to
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Examples of sass in a Sentence
Noun
an old-fashioned diner where getting sass from the waitstaff is part of the experience Verb
He got drunk and sassed a cop.
Recent Examples on the Web: Noun FitIndex body fat wireless, digital scale measures body weight, body fat, water, muscle mass, BMI, BMR, bone sass, protein, skeletal muscle and other data to help track progress easily on a smartphone app.
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oregonlive, "Father’s Day: Great sports, exercise gift ideas to get dads fit," 14 June 2020 The female characters receive an upgrade from their classic personas: Daphne’s no distressed damsel anymore, and Velma exudes thoughtful sass as well as high-tech smarts.
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Brian Truitt, Detroit Free Press, "Animated ‘Scooby-Doo’ reboot is hounded by complications," 14 May 2020 Critics of the Trump White House then had a field day with what appears to be McEnany attempting sass.
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Dominick Mastrangelo, Washington Examiner, "White House press secretary hit with blowback for tweet insisting Trump be called 'President Trump'," 21 Apr. 2020 FitIndex body fat wireless, digital scale measures body weight, body fat, water, muscle mass, BMI, BMR, bone sass, protein, skeletal muscle and other data to help track progress easily on a smartphone app.
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oregonlive, "Need help losing stuck-at-home weight? Try these books, free apps, online exercise classes," 20 Apr. 2020 January 2020 marks the third coming of Bianco’s Van Buren project — still Pane Bianco, but a more fleshed-out and distinct version with a little East Coast Italian-American sass.
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Dominic Armato, azcentral, "Here's what to order on Chris Bianco's new Italian-American menu at Pane Bianco Van Buren," 27 Jan. 2020 Fiercely supporting one another through good times and bad, Truvy and her spirited customers hold court with humor, sass and style in this new production of a beloved Southern classic.
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Savannah Eadens, The Courier-Journal, "Actors Theatre new 2020-21 season includes classics like 'Dracula' and 'Steel Magnolias'," 11 Mar. 2020 Peter’s fairy companion is a vamping showgirl full of sass.
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Los Angeles Times, "Review: ‘Fly,’ La Jolla Playhouse’s new musical about Peter Pan and Wendy, needs to grow up," 11 Mar. 2020 Thief is straight sass, a camp counselor crossed with an older sibling, calling out trolls, or professional theater critics.
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Nancy Coleman, New York Times, "Behind the ‘Lightning Thief’ Twitter Curtain: A Tony Winner," 6 Jan. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb With her awe- and fear-inspiring attitude, the comedian-singer-postmodern diva is often recommended for anyone who loves onstage chaos and sass a la Pink Martini, Liza Minnelli or Bette Midler.
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Donna Freedman, Anchorage Daily News, "There’s a great slate of music, theater and storytelling coming to entertain us until summer," 2 Jan. 2020 No stranger to reality TV, Delano got her start by sassing Simon Cowell on American Idol season 7 (as Danny Norriega) but was eliminated after making the Top 16.
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Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, "Drag Race alum Adore Delano talks Ex on the Beach season 4: 'We have every spectrum of sexuality'," 25 Nov. 2019 That's right: Now there's a robot who can sass you as well as any teenager.
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Daisy Hernandez, Popular Mechanics, "This Eye-Rolling Robot Understands Irony and Will Sass You Hard," 13 June 2019 Here, Prince Harry was captured sassing photographers while getting out of a car to visit the hospital after his cousin, Princess Beatrice of York, was born in 1988.
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Lyndsey Matthews, Town & Country, "Princess Charlotte Channeled Prince Harry at the Royal Wedding," 19 May 2018 Although Archie’s a little shaking at the start of this number (think Zac Efron at the beginning of High School Musical), Betty takes over and uses it as an opportunity to apologize to Veronica after publicly sassing her a few minutes prior.
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Gianluca Russo, Teen Vogue, "The "Riverdale" Musical Numbers, Ranked," 19 Apr. 2018 An entertaining Twitter account, in which Daniels often and humorously sassed back at the name callers, recently went private.
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Jean Marbella, baltimoresun.com, "A Stormy front is coming: Trump might try to silence Daniels, but she'll bare all in Baltimore," 19 Apr. 2018 Lewis also sassed and snarled at critics and interviewers who displeased him.
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Lindsey Bahr, Esquire, "Jerry Lewis, Comedy Legend and Tireless Telethon Host, Dies at 91," 20 Aug. 2017 Things like negging bosses, sassing bartenders, writing off-the-rails emotional emails to men who didn’t care about me—these used to be core parts of my personality.
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Meaghan O'connell, Longreads, "Girl Wonder," 20 July 2017
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sass.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for sass
sass
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of sass
chiefly US, informal : to talk to (someone) in a rude way that does not show proper respect
See the full definition for sass in the English Language Learners Dictionary
sass
noun\ ˈsas \
\Kids Definition of sass
(Entry 1 of 2)
: a rude or disrespectful reply
sass
verbsassed; sassing
Kids Definition of sass (Entry 2 of 2)
: to speak to in a rude or disrespectful way
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Time Traveler for sass
The first known use of sass was in 1835
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