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# sweeten

verb (sweeten, sweetens, sweetened, sweetening)

«sweeten» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. To sweeten food or drink is to make it taste sweeter, for example by adding sugar, honey or fruit. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sweeten/#m1)
2. To sweeten something can mean to make it nicer or more pleasant: «The fresh air sweetened the room». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sweeten/#m2)
3. To sweeten a deal or offer is to make it more attractive, often by adding something extra. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sweeten/#m3)

### In the lessons

In cooking and healthy-eating lessons, pupils learn ways to sweeten food with fruit instead of lots of sugar, and read labels for «sweetened» drinks. In everyday and business talk, «to sweeten the deal» means adding a bonus. Phrases: «sweeten with honey», «sweeten the deal», «artificially sweetened».

### Examples

- We sweetened the porridge with banana. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sweeten/#x1)
- Mum sweetens her tea with honey. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sweeten/#x2)
- Many fizzy drinks are sweetened with lots of sugar. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sweeten/#x3)
- Ripe apples can sweeten a crumble without extra sugar. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sweeten/#x4)
- To sweeten the deal, the shop added free batteries. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sweeten/#x5)
- Dad bought flowers to sweeten Mum's mood. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sweeten/#x6)
- And when she went away for some honey to sweeten it with, he poured out the drink, and so made the old wife think he had drunk it. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sweeten/#x7)

### Note

Regular verb. «Unsweetened» means no sugar has been added. A «sweetener» is a substance used instead of sugar.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «sweeten» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sweeten/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«sweeten» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/sweeten.html) on Mova free.