sugarcoat
sugarcoat — 動詞
- sugarcoatpresent simple I / you / we / they
- sugarcoats3rd person singular
- sugarcoating-ing form
- sugarcoatedpast simple
1. to describe something negative in a deliberately gentle way, making the problem
粉飾；美化
把壞事說得比較好聽
to describe something negative in a deliberately gentle way, making the problem appear less severe
The principal did not sugarcoat the warning about the school's budget cuts.
校長並沒有粉飾關於學校預算削減的警告。
adverb: not sugarcoat + noun phrase for blunt honesty
Renata refused to sugarcoat her disappointment with the team's performance last season.
Renata 拒絕美化她對球隊上個賽季表現的失望。
The company's advertisement sugarcoated the true cost of the new phone plan.
那家公司的廣告粉飾了新手機方案的實際成本。
Stephanie told her brother about the accident without trying to sugarcoat anything.
Stephanie 沒有粉飾地把事故經過告訴了她的弟弟。
There is no point in sugarcoating the situation — we are going to lose the contract.
粉飾情況沒有意義——我們就要失去這份合約了。
- gloss over
implies avoiding or downplaying negative details rather than actively making them look good
- whitewash
stronger and more negative; suggests a deliberate cover-up of wrongdoing
- embellish
broader; can be positive or negative, and means adding attractive but possibly untrue details
- tell it like it is
idiomatic; means speaking honestly without softening the truth
文法句型
not sugarcoat + noun phrase
sugarcoat + noun phrase (with negative tone)
no sugarcoating (gerund)
用法筆記
This figurative sense is far more common in everyday speech than the literal sense. It almost always appears in negative, critical, or reluctant contexts — either explicitly denied ('don't sugarcoat it') or used to criticise someone for being too gentle with bad news.
常見錯誤
2. to put a sweet outer coating onto food, medicine tablets, or confectionery items
裹糖衣；撒糖
在食物或藥品外層裹上糖
to put a sweet outer coating onto food, medicine tablets, or confectionery items
The baker sugarcoated the fresh doughnuts while they were still warm from the fryer.
糕點師傅趁甜甜圈剛炸好還溫熱時，在上面撒了糖。
subject as agent + sugarcoat + noun phrase for literal coating
Many children prefer pills that have been sugarcoated to make them easier to swallow.
許多小孩喜歡吃裹了糖衣的藥錠，因為比較容易吞嚥。
passive: be sugarcoated for describing food or medicine
Trang watched her grandmother carefully sugarcoat each strawberry for the dessert platter.
Trang 看著祖母仔細地為每一顆草莓裹上糖衣，準備放在甜點盤上。
Those brightly coloured breakfast cereals are heavily sugarcoated and contain very little nutrition.
那些顏色鮮豔的早餐玉米片裹了厚厚的糖，營養價值很低。
Nicholas learned how to sugarcoat almonds with honey and cinnamon at the candy-making workshop.
Nicholas 在糖果製作課上學到了如何用蜂蜜和肉桂為杏仁裹上糖衣。
文法句型
sugarcoat + noun phrase
be sugarcoated (passive)
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 1 (MAKE PLEASANT) by the concrete object: this sense takes edible items (pills, nuts, fruit, cereal) as the direct object. The figurative sense takes abstract nouns (truth, news, facts).