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
Special team woes continue There’s no sugarcoating it, the Horned Frogs have issues on special teams after another rough day by the unit.
—
Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 17 Aug. 2025
There's no reason to sugarcoat it.
—James Bickerton, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Aug. 2025
In lieu of sugarcoating the possibility of being made whole again and/or overstating the extent to which a mutual understanding might allow these characters to identify their common enemy, the film cannonballs into the grim absurdity of a world that’s lost control of itself.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 6 Aug. 2025
Encarnacion still needs to undergo an MRI, but manager Bob Melvin did not sugarcoat the prognosis.
—Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 6 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sugarcoat
Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 17 Aug. 2025
There's no reason to sugarcoat it.
—James Bickerton, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Aug. 2025
In lieu of sugarcoating the possibility of being made whole again and/or overstating the extent to which a mutual understanding might allow these characters to identify their common enemy, the film cannonballs into the grim absurdity of a world that’s lost control of itself.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 6 Aug. 2025
Encarnacion still needs to undergo an MRI, but manager Bob Melvin did not sugarcoat the prognosis.
—Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 6 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sugarcoat
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sugarcoat
Verb
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But that legal reality shouldn’t excuse the behavior.—
Matt Germer,
Oc Register,
7 Sep. 2025
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Listening to these women fawn all over Julia for carrying the laird’s child, for carrying a future king, listening to them excuse away Julia being unmarried, all of it makes Davina blow a fuse.—
Maggie Fremont,
Vulture,
5 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The idea sticks because the prize, limitless energy from tabletop hardware, is irresistible, and suppression narratives explain away the lack of mainstream acceptance.—
Kaif Shaikh,
Interesting Engineering,
4 Sep. 2025
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Such a reaction, brought about so quickly, would be easier to explain away if Avi’s life was definitively a tragedy.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
22 Aug. 2025
Verb
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This guy needs to do some serious soul searching to rationalize his life existence.—
Lexy Perez,
HollywoodReporter,
31 Aug. 2025
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The smarter approach is to rationalize those systems and refocus spending on solutions that reduce both financial and operational overhead.—
Leslie Milne,
Forbes.com,
28 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Businesses can and should use catastrophe models themselves to establish baseline risk profiles, stress-test scenarios, quantify protection gaps, and justify resilience investments.—
Felicia Jackson,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
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Some are too flashy, while others look too plain to justify the price tag.—
Amina Ayoud,
Glamour,
3 Sep. 2025
Verb
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At each camp, the team leaves behind a small but powerful item, a red card that explains what to do during encounters with immigration officials.—
David Rodriguez Muñoz,
Freep.com,
7 Sep. 2025
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The powers that be explained to me that in the audiobook, there would be no easy way to identify the bees’ chapters, which were designated with italics in the printed version, unless the narrator’s voice changed from female to male.—
Elizabeth Bass Parman,
PEOPLE,
7 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Protestors in Hong Kong applauded South Park for calling out public figures whitewashing the oppressive Chinese government, which would swiftly ban the show.—
Chris Yogerst,
HollywoodReporter,
30 Aug. 2025
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Culture must never be used to whitewash crimes or serve as a propaganda tool.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
25 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sugarcoat.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sugarcoat. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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