Word.ws English Dictionary

saccharine

Syllables: sac·cha·rineUK/ˈsækəɹaɪn/US/ˈsækəɹɪn/

saccharine adjective: of or relating to sugar; sugary. Also the alternative spelling of saccharin.

Adjective (1)

saccharine (comparative more saccharine, superlative most saccharine)

  1. (dated) Of or relating to sugar; sugary.
    Synonyms:
    saccharous
  2. (dated) Containing a large or excessive amount of sugar.
  3. (derogatory, figuratively) Excessively sweet in action or disposition, especially if romantic or sentimental to the point of ridiculousness; sickly sweet, syrupy.
    Synonyms:
    cloying, precious, saccharined, sickly, twee
    Antonyms:
    nonsaccharine
  4. Resembling granulated sugar; saccharoid.

Noun

saccharine (uncountable)

  1. (dated) Something which is saccharine or sweet; sugar.
  2. (figuratively) Sentimentalism.
    • If Captain Archie Blaine regarded these outpourings as so much adolescent saccharine he never revealed it by a single word, a smile or the flicker of an eye.1960, H[erbert] E[rnest] Bates, An Aspidistra in Babylon: Four Novellas, London: Michael Joseph, →OCLC, page 31

Adjective (2)

saccharine (not comparable)

  1. Of or relating to saccharin (“a white, crystalline powder, C₇H₅NO₃S, used as an artificial sweetener in food products”).

Also used as

saccharine is also the alternative spelling of saccharin.

saccharine meaning in Arabic

saccharine in Arabic

of or relating to sugar — see also sugary
سُكَّرِيّ sukkariyy

Synonyms of saccharine

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of saccharine

Forms of saccharine

Adjective
comparativemore saccharine
superlativemost saccharine
Noun
pluralsaccharines

Origin of saccharine

From New Latin saccharum (“sugar”) + English -ine (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Saccharum is derived from saccharon (“syrupy liquid from bamboo or reeds”), from Ancient Greek σάκχαρον (sákkharon), from Pali sakkharā (“sugar; gravel; granule, grain; crystal; potsherd”), from Sanskrit शर्करा (śárkarā, “ground or candied sugar; cotton sugar, sugarmaple; gravel, grit, pebbles; potsherd”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱorkeh₂ (“boulder; gravel”).

From saccharin + -ine (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives).

A variant of saccharin.

Words formed from saccharine

Questions about saccharine

What does saccharine mean?
Saccharine means of or relating to sugar; sugary.
What is saccharine in Arabic?
Saccharine in Arabic is سُكَّرِيّ (sukkariyy). See Saccharine meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is saccharine?
Saccharine can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce saccharine?
Saccharine is pronounced /ˈsækəɹaɪn/ (UK).

Words near saccharine in the dictionary

  1. saccharimetry
  2. saccharin
  3. saccharinate
  4. saccharinated
  5. saccharinates
  6. saccharine
  7. saccharinely
  8. saccharines
  9. saccharinic
  10. saccharinic acid
  11. saccharinic acids

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: saccharine (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-saccharine.ogg.

Cite this entry: “saccharine.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/saccharine. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.