sweeten

verb sweet·en \ ˈswē-tᵊn \

Updated on: 16 May 2018

Definition of sweeten

sweetened; sweetening play \ˈswēt-niŋ, ˈswē-tᵊn-iŋ\

transitive verb

1 : to make sweet

2 : to soften the mood or attitude of

3 : to make less painful or trying

4 : to free from a harmful or undesirable quality or substance; especially : to remove sulfur compounds from

sweeten natural gas

5 : to make more valuable or attractive

sweeten the deal

: such as

a : to increase (a pot not won on the previous deal) by anteing prior to another deal

b : to place additional securities as collateral for (a loan)

intransitive verb

: to become sweet

—

sweetener

play \ˈswēt-nər, ˈswē-tᵊn-ər\ noun

See sweeten defined for English-language learners

See sweeten defined for kids

Examples of sweeten in a Sentence

He sweetened his cereal a little.
He sweetened the deal with a large signing bonus.

Recent Examples of sweeten from the Web

Though member schools remain adamant against sweetening college athletes’ deals with a salary, resistance to them reaping the benefits of endorsements has declined dramatically.

— tim sullivan, The Courier-Journal, "Rice's commission may want to take advantage of Skechers suing Adidas," 11 May 2018
To sweeten the deal for Valley of the Sun residents who are looking for a staycation, Martinez says locals can also receive a number of discounts from surrounding businesses in the Talking Stick Entertainment District.

— azcentral, "Talking Stick Resort," 25 Apr. 2018
Merchants pledge to drop reimbursements into a reviewer's PayPal account within minutes of posting comments for items such as kitchen knives, rain ponchos or shower caddies, often sweetening the deal with a $5 commission or an $10 Amazon gift card.

— elizabeth dwoskin and craig timberg, chicagotribune.com, "How merchants quietly use Facebook to flood Amazon with fake reviews," 24 Apr. 2018
Merchants pledge to drop reimbursements into a reviewer's PayPal account within minutes of posting comments for items such as kitchen knives, rain ponchos or shower caddies, often sweetening the deal with a $5 commission or an $10 Amazon gift card.

— author: elizabeth dwoskin, craig timberg, Anchorage Daily News, "How merchants quietly use Facebook to flood Amazon with fake reviews," 24 Apr. 2018
To sweeten the deal, Asus also priced the ZenFone competitively against the Redmi.

— shannon liao, The Verge, "The ZenFone Max Pro M1 is priced cheaper than Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 5 Pro," 23 Apr. 2018
Macerating red onions in balsamic vinegar with a big pinch of sugar helps soften the onions and sweetens them right up.

— ignacio mattos, Bon Appetit, "Beef Sliders with Provolone and Balsamic Onions," 23 Apr. 2018
Takeda shares are also down sharply since their interest in Shire came to light last month. More cash would help sweeten the deal, but that may not be a realistic option.

— charley grant, WSJ, "Third Time Unlucky for Takeda and Shire," 19 Apr. 2018
Consider ways to sweeten your deal: a bigger down payment, more earnest money or a shorter closing time may give you an edge.

— Washington Post, "Landing the right house in a tough market for homebuyers," 18 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sweeten.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.