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Definition of sop
1 chiefly dialectal : a piece of food dipped or steeped in a liquid
2 : a conciliatory or propitiatory bribe, gift, or gesture
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sop was our Word of the Day on 10/13/2011. Hear the podcast!
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Examples of sop in a Sentence
as a sop to the teachers' union for supporting his reelection campaign, the mayor promised to push for the abolition of the residency requirement
Recent Examples of sop from the Web
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As a sop to the ineligible professionals, the sponsoring U.S. Golf Association scheduled an Open event to follow.
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Democrats in the lower chamber will continue assailing the the Financial CHOICE Act, authored by House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), as a sop to the industry villains who brought about the decade-old financial collapse.
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Often eaten early in the morning, either as a light breakfast snack or a sop after a long night at the club, these fresh-fried and stuffed cylindrical doughnuts are perfect with a cup of Cocanú drinking chocolate.
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Another joke about the supposedly advanced technology of a new typewriter is a similar sop to the crowd, a knowing wink at How Much Things Have Changed that mostly serves to remind us that these characters aren’t much like real people at all.
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Mandated PLAs are a sop to unions that inflate construction costs and discourage competition.
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Democrats denounced it as an assault on democracy and a sop to billionaires when the Supreme Court issued a ruling two years ago that loosened limits on campaign giving.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sop'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
The etymology of sop takes us from bread to hellhounds to bribery. The journey starts over 900 years ago, when sop first referred to bread soaked in water, wine, or another liquid. Such soggy bread was considered a treat sure to tempt any appetite. Sops were considered so appealing that English translations of Virgil's Aeneid tell of a sibyl using one soaked in honey to distract and drug Cerberus, the three-headed watchdog of the gates of the underworld, so Aeneas could get by him safely. By the 1600s, that mythological use of sop had given rise to the expression give a sop to Cerberus, meaning "to bribe" and to using sop to refer to a bribe or conciliatory gift.
Origin and Etymology of sop
Middle English soppe, from Old English sopp; akin to Old English sūpan to swallow — more at sup
sop
Definition of sop
sopped
;sopping
Examples of sop in a Sentence
sopped the sponge with the detergent and began scrubbing the floor vigorously
my book fell in the swimming pool and was thoroughly sopped before I could fish it out
First Known Use of sop
circa 1529
SOP
Definition of SOP
standard operating procedure; standing operating procedure
SOP Defined for English Language Learners
sop
playDefinition of sop for English Language Learners
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: something that is done or given to someone in order to prevent trouble, gain support, etc.
SOP Defined for Kids
sop
playDefinition of sop for Students
sopped
;sopping
1 : to soak or dip in or as if in liquid He sopped the bread in gravy.
2 : to mop or soak up The water was sopped up with rags.
Learn More about sop
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See words that rhyme with sop Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for sop Spanish Central: Translation of sop Nglish: Translation of sop for Spanish speakers
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