honeyed

1. 1
   adjective

   Sweetened with honey, or tasting as though honey has been added.

   The recipe calls for honeyed almonds scattered over the salad.

   He served warm, honeyed figs for dessert.

   Similarsweetened, sugared, candied, glazed

   Oppositeunsweetened

   Note

   A plain English formation, honey plus -ed, already present in Middle English as honyed. The "as if" in it does most of the work. Modern Railways in 1964 wrote that Dr. Beeching offered Scotland "no honeyed words", and food has nothing to do with it. When honeyed sits beside words, promises or flattery, it means sweetness offered to soothe. That use shades into the "mellifluous" meaning.

2. 2
   adjective

   Pleasingly smooth and sweet to the ear, especially of a voice or speech.

   The senator's honeyed rhetoric concealed his real intentions.

   She thanked them in honeyed phrases that charmed the whole room.

   Similarsmooth, sweet, flattering, mellifluous, dulcet

   Oppositeharsh, blunt, gruff, brusque

3. 3
   adjective

   Sugary and syrupy in taste or texture.

   The wine had a honeyed sweetness that lingered on the palate.

   She found the syrup-soaked pastries cloyingly honeyed.

   Similarsweet, sugary, syrupy, cloying, saccharine

   Oppositedry, bitter, sour

4. 4
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of honey.

   The baker honeyed each pastry before it cooled.

   He honeyed his criticism so that it would sting less.

   Note

   Honey also works as a verb, and its uses split on whether there is an object. Used transitively, meaning to sweeten or to add honey to, it can be passive: the figs were honeyed. Its intransitive uses mean to coax, to talk fondly or to fawn. They take no object, so the participle appears only after have: he had honeyed his way into favor. The spelling matches the adjective, so only context tells them apart.

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