Word
sake
/ˈseɪk/
Definitions
01benefit or well-being
n. the benefit, advantage, or well-being of a person or thing.
n. the benefit, advantage, or interest of a particular person or entity; almost exclusively used in the construction 'for the sake of' or 'for someone's sake'.
“They moved to the countryside for the sake of their children's health.”
“The couple decided to maintain a civil relationship for the sake of their shared business interests, despite their personal differences.”
Usage
Usually follows 'for' and is followed by 'of', or follows a possessive noun/pronoun.
02purpose or reason
n. the reason or purpose for doing something.
n. the purpose, motive, or end goal of an action.
“He didn't want to argue just for the sake of arguing.”
“The artist refused to add decorative elements for the sake of mere ornamentation, preferring a strictly functional aesthetic.”
Usage
Commonly used in the phrase 'for the sake of it' to mean doing something without a serious reason.
03emphasis or emotion
n. used in phrases to show you are annoyed, surprised, or want to emphasize something.
n. used in various exclamatory phrases to express impatience, annoyance, or urgency.
“For goodness' sake, please turn down that loud music.”
“For heaven's sake, we have been waiting for over an hour and the train still hasn't arrived.”
Informal
Usage
Appears in fixed expressions like 'for God's sake', 'for heaven's sake', or 'for Pete's sake'.
04Japanese rice wine
n. a Japanese alcoholic drink made from fermented rice.
n. a Japanese alcoholic beverage produced by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran.
“We ordered a bottle of warm sake to go with our sushi dinner.”
“The sommelier explained the differences between various grades of premium sake, noting the impact of rice polishing ratios on the final flavour profile.”
Usage
Often spelled 'saké' or 'saki' to distinguish it from the English word for 'benefit'.
Synonyms
Real-World Examples
“His books are not big for the sake of being big.” “For the sake of argument, let’s assume an idealized Starship launch cost of $20 million, which would translate to a truly remarkable $100 per kg to low-Earth orbit.” Etymology
From Middle English sake (“sake, cause”), from Old English sacu (“cause, lawsuit, legal action, complaint, issue, dispute”), from Proto-West Germanic saku, from Proto-Germanic sakō (“affair, thing, charge, accusation, matter”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“to investigate”). Akin to West Frisian saak (“cause; business”), Low German Saak, Dutch zaak (“matter; cause; business”), German Sache (“thing; matter; cause; legal cause”), Danish sag, Swedish and Norwegian sak, Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌺𐌾𐍉 (sakjō, “dispute, argument”), Old English sōcn (“inquiry, prosecution”), Old English sēcan (“to seek”). More at soke, soken, seek.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
Idioms
for fuck's sake — An expression of anger or frustration.
for heaven's sake — Expresses frustration, exasperation, annoyance, or the urgency of an instruction.
for mercy's sake — An especially mild oath.
for Pete's sake — Used to express frustration, exasperation, annoyance
for pity's sake — for Pete's sake; An especially mild oath
fuck's sake — Ellipsis of for fuck's sake.