as in to excuse
to talk about or describe (something) in a way that makes it seem more pleasant or acceptable than it is
textbooks that sugarcoat history She has very strong opinions, and she doesn't try to sugarcoat them.
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Recent Examples of sugarcoat
Then, sugarcoating was the reflexive response.
—
Susan Page, USA Today, 29 May 2026
There’s no way to sugarcoat it.
—Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 25 May 2026
Morgan didn’t sugarcoat the harder parts either.
—Kimberly Wilson, Essence, 10 May 2026
One in four jobs at risk The bank isn’t sugarcoating AI’s reach.
—Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 4 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for sugarcoat
Susan Page, USA Today, 29 May 2026
There’s no way to sugarcoat it.
—Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 25 May 2026
Morgan didn’t sugarcoat the harder parts either.
—Kimberly Wilson, Essence, 10 May 2026
One in four jobs at risk The bank isn’t sugarcoating AI’s reach.
—Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 4 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for sugarcoat
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sugarcoat
Verb
-
Thune has repeatedly explained that the bill, which Democrats and a handful of Republicans oppose, does not have the votes to pass in the Senate.—
Kaia Hubbard,
CBS News,
18 June 2026
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The Logan star also explains how the strenuousness of the fight scenes doubled as an artistic choice.—
Wesley Stenzel,
Entertainment Weekly,
18 June 2026
Verb
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In my view, a push by Metcalf does not justify a deadly response unless the push was an attempt to push someone off a subway platform.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
15 June 2026
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SpaceX lost nearly $5 billion in 2025 and the blockbuster IPO has sparked debate over whether the company's huge valuation is justified.—
Arjun Kharpal,
CNBC,
15 June 2026
Verb
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Plus, our governor issued a memo excusing fans from delays caused by celebrating.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
19 June 2026
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Mixing those up can lead to either punishing good judgment or excusing bad results.—
Flavio Maluf,
Forbes.com,
18 June 2026
Verb
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The current administration is engaged in an effort to bowdlerize American history, stripping away complexity in favor of easy myth and hagiography, not to mention the attempt to whitewash more recent events.—
John Swansburg,
The Atlantic,
15 June 2026
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The order to whitewash America’s historic sites of anything less than rosy about the nation’s past has led to some predictable embarrassments.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 June 2026
Verb
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As the show began to wrap up, Goldberg aimed to try to tie in the book, asking Vance about rationalizing his Catholic faith with a hard-line stance on immigration.—
Meg Kinnard,
Chicago Tribune,
16 June 2026
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The pope has fiercely criticized joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran and rebuked world leaders for invoking religious language to rationalize war and voiced opposition to the administration’s immigration crackdown.—
Christopher Lamb,
CNN Money,
10 June 2026
Verb
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However, in the months after giving birth to her daughter, Cust began noticing symptoms that felt unusual, but easy to explain away as postpartum exhaustion.—
Tereza Shkurtaj,
PEOPLE,
30 May 2026
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When a conversation ends without a real answer, when a situation is explained away rather than actually explained, the discomfort is not neurotic or petty.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
30 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sugarcoat.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sugarcoat. Accessed 21 Jun. 2026.
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