What does "sauce" mean?

1. (food condiment) a thick liquid served with food to add flavour. 2. (alcohol) a slang word for alcoholic drinks. 3. (rude behaviour) rude or disrespectful talk. 4. (internet source) a word used online when asking for the original source of a picture or video. 5. (to add flavour) to add a sauce or extra flavour to a dish.

sauce — meaning, definition & examples

Word

01food condiment

A2 · Elementary Countable noun Cooking

n. a thick liquid served with food to add flavour.

n. a liquid or semi-solid accompaniment to food, often thickened and seasoned to enhance flavour.

“He poured a little tomato sauce over his pasta and added some cheese.”

“The chef reduced the red wine sauce until it reached a velvety consistency that perfectly complemented the roasted venison.”

Synonyms

condiment dressing gravy

02alcohol

C1 · Advanced Uncountable noun Informal · Slang

n. a slang word for alcoholic drinks.

n. alcoholic liquor; typically used in the phrase 'on the sauce' to describe habitual drinking.

“He has been off the sauce for three years and feels much healthier.”

“After a decade on the sauce, he finally sought professional help to address his dependency and reclaim his career.”

Synonyms

booze liquor alcohol

03rude behaviour

C2 · Proficiency Uncountable noun British English · Informal

n. rude or disrespectful talk.

n. impertinent or cheeky speech or behaviour.

“I don't want any more of your sauce, young man.”

“The teacher was unimpressed by the student's sauce, noting that such impertinence would not be tolerated in a professional environment.”

Synonyms

cheeksassimpudence

Antonyms

politeness respect

04internet source

C1 · Advanced Uncountable noun Computing Slang · Informal

n. a word used online when asking for the original source of a picture or video.

n. an intentional misspelling of 'source' used in digital communities to request the origin of media.

“Does anyone have the sauce for this image?”

“The user posted the sauce in the comments section so that others could find the artist's original portfolio.”

Synonyms

source origin

05to add flavour

B2 · Upper Intermediate Cooking

v. to add a sauce or extra flavour to a dish.

v. to season or dress food with a sauce; figuratively, to add zest or interest to something.

“She decided to sauce the fish with a lemon and butter mixture.”

“The author chose to sauce the historical narrative with witty anecdotes to make the academic subject more accessible to a general audience.”

Synonyms

season dress spice

“Across Asia, myriad sauces add layers of flavour, depth and instant seasoning to dishes, far surpassing any measure of salt and pepper.”

BBC 24 Apr 2025

“A spoonful of tomato paste helps thicken the sauce.”

The New York Times 26 Aug 2015

“One of the mainstays of classic French cuisine is the white sauce called béchamel, a “mother sauce” from which many others are made, including the famously rich sauce mornay.”

The New York Times 28 Jun 2010

“The truth is that sriracha, as manufactured by Huy Fong Foods, may be best understood as an American sauce, a polyglot purée with roots in different places and peoples.”

The New York Times 20 May 2009

PIE word *séh₂ls From Middle English sauce, from Old French sause, from Vulgar Latin *salsa, noun use of the feminine of Latin salsus (“salted”), past participle of saliō (“to salt”), from sal. Doublet of salsa. For the meaning development compare Ancient Greek ἥδυσμα (hḗdusma) ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swéh₂dus (whence also English sweet).

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

NOUN

sauce(A2)

saucepan(A2)

horseradish marinate sausage