sweet

Less common meanings

8. 8
   interjectioncolloquial

   Used as a positive, enthusiastic response to good news or information.

   Sweet, the package finally arrived this morning.

   They approved our proposal? Sweet.

   Similargreat

9. 9
   nouncountable or uncountable

   An affectionate term for a loved one; a sweetheart.

   She kissed her husband on the cheek and said, 'Have a good day at work, my sweet.'

   Grandpa still called Grandma 'my sweet' after fifty years of marriage.

   UsageMostly in my sweet, which sounds warm and a little theatrical.

   Similarsweetheart

   Note

   Ben Jonson's Catiline (1611) asks "Wherefore frowns my sweet?" Hemingway's "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" (1936) uses it bare, in "I know you will, sweet," with an edge of mockery. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Ben Jonson wrote Catiline His Conspiracy, first published in 1611. emed.folger.edu
   • The play contains the quoted question, spoken by Catiline to Aurelia. hollowaypages.com
   • Ernest Hemingway wrote The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, first published in 1936. en.wikipedia.org
   • Margot addresses Francis Macomber as 'sweet' in the quoted reply; the surrounding exchange supports the description of mockery. sites.english.unt.edu
10. 10
    attractedadjectivecolloquial

    Romantically taken with someone; fond of or attracted to them.

    Everyone could tell he was sweet on her from the way he smiled.

    She's been sweet on him since their college days.

    UsageUsed with on: he's sweet on her.

    Similarkeen

11. 11
    noununcountable

    The basic taste that sugar produces on the tongue, as distinct from sour, salty, or bitter.

    The tongue detects sweet through receptors tuned to sugar molecules.

    Among the basic tastes, sweet signals a likely source of energy in food.

12. 12
    fresh wateradjective

    Not salty: of water, fresh rather than salt or brackish; of butter, unsalted.

    The settlers dug wells until they struck sweet water beneath the dunes.

    Where the river meets the sea, sweet water gives way to brine.

    Similarfresh

    Oppositesalt, salty, brackish

    Note

    Here the contrast is with salt, not with sugar: sweet water is simply fresh water rather than sea water. Francis Bacon describes making salt water "sweeter" with egg white or blood. The physician Robert Thomas recommends charring the insides of casks to keep water sweet at sea on long voyages. The phrase belongs to the long history of keeping drinkable water fresh. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Francis Bacon describes making salt water sweeter with egg white or blood; “sweeter” is his wording. en.wiktionary.org
    • Robert Thomas was a physician. wellcomecollection.org
    • Robert Thomas recommends charring cask interiors to preserve water during long sea voyages. en.wiktionary.org
13. 13
    not spoiledadjective

    Fresh and unspoiled; not sour, rancid, fermented, or stale.

    The milk was still sweet despite sitting out for an hour.

    The fresh-caught fish was still sweet when it reached the market.

    Similarfresh

    Oppositesour, rancid, stale

14. 14
    in a pleasant wayadverb

    In a pleasant or agreeable manner.

    The choir sang sweet through the long evening service.

    As the baby finally drifted off, her grandmother kept singing soft and sweet until the room went quiet.

    UsageFollows the verb with no -ly, mostly in songs and verse: sing sweet.

    Similarpleasantly, beautifully

    Note

    The adverb without -ly, placed after the verb it modifies: Tennyson in 1850 has a laurel that will "whisper sweet." Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The cited Tennyson work, In Memoriam, was first published in 1850. en.wikisource.org
    • Tennyson depicts a laurel whispering, using the exact words "whisper sweet". gutenberg.org
15. 15
    adjective

    Used to add emphasis or force to a following word, quantity, or amount.

    You can bet your sweet life she'll be first in line when the tickets go on sale.

    The plumber took his own sweet time and finally showed up three hours late.

    UsageCommon in take your sweet time, often expressing irritation, and bet your sweet life, expressing certainty.

    Similarcool, full, whole

    Note

    An intensifier that does its work in the idiom take one's sweet time, meaning to take far longer than others would like. Rexanne Becnel's Leaving L.A. (2006) uses it of a woman dawdling on the way to a sister she has not seen in twenty years. Nothing about the delay is pleasant, and the word adds weight, not approval. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Rexanne Becnel wrote Leaving L.A. en.wikipedia.org
    • The book uses the idiom about a woman delaying a reunion with her sister after twenty years. en.wiktionary.org
16. 16
    doing welladjectiveslangAustralia

    In a good or happy position; doing well.

    With the bonus in the bank, the family was sweet for the year.

    Once the funding cleared, the little startup was sweet.

    UsageComes after a verb: we'll be sweet, she's sweet now.

    Similarset, sorted

    Note

    Australian slang for being sorted, with nothing left to worry about. John Hoskison's Inside (1998) catches the tone. A prisoner reassures his mate that once the delivery comes, "we'll be sweet then." Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • John Hoskison wrote Inside. everand.com
    • A prisoner reassures his mate about an expected delivery using the exact words quoted. en.wiktionary.org
17. 17
    not acidicadjectivedatedUK

    Of soil: alkaline rather than acidic.

    Farmers limed the field each spring to keep the ground sweet.

    A sweet, well-drained loam suited crops that disliked acid.

    Similaralkaline

    Oppositesour, acid

    Note

    Gardeners' talk for soil that is alkaline rather than acid. The logic runs through the "not sour" meaning: acid ground was sour, so its opposite was sweet. Gardening books on both sides of the Atlantic still use it, though soil science prefers alkaline or a pH figure. Sweet soil does not mean sugary or simply fertile. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • In gardening, sweet soil means alkaline soil. yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu
    • The soil sense follows the opposition between sweet and sour, with acidic soil called sour. abc.net.au
    • Sweet soil does not refer to a sugary taste. abc.net.au
    • Alkalinity does not necessarily mean fertility. extension.umd.edu
18. 18
    make pleasantverbarchaic

    To make sweet; to sweeten in taste, smell, or feeling.

    A sour maketh sweets two-fold sweeted.

    2012, Keith Ringkamp, PATIENCE WORTH: A Balm for Every Ill

    In size and shape it resembles the heart of a calf, and the interior substance is similar to thick cream, sweeted with fine sugar.

    1825, John Breckinridge, C.R. Harrison

    Note

    The old verb that sweeten largely replaced, with the past form sweeted. It appears in nineteenth-century medical writing, such as a mixture "sweeted by any of the various flavoring syrups" in The Cincinnati Lancet-clinic (1890). Later poetry uses it too, as in Morag Styles's From the Garden to the Street (1998), where the participle describes the air itself.

19. 19
    nounobsoletecountable or uncountable

    Pleasure or sweetness, or anything that gratifies the mind or the senses.

    Fear's fire to fervency, which makes love's sweet prove nectar.

    1613, John Marston, William Barksted

    Note

    The noun turned abstract: not a scent but delight itself, the sweetness of an experience. Marston and Barksted's The Insatiate Countess (1613) speaks of "love's sweet" proving nectar. Like the obsolete "fragrance" noun, it has fallen out of use. Where a modern writer wants this idea, sweetness does the work, and the bare noun reads as deliberate archaism. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The noun sweet historically meant delight or something pleasant to the mind or senses. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Insatiate Countess is attributed to Marston and Barksted, although its authorship is contested and Lewis Machin is also associated with it. johnmarston.leeds.ac.uk
    • The Insatiate Countess was first published in 1613. johnmarston.leeds.ac.uk
    • The play contains love's sweet proving nectar; the speaker is Isabella. gutenberg.org
20. 20
    nounobsoletecountable or uncountable

    A pleasant odor or fragrance; a perfume.

    a wilderness of sweets

    1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost

    Note

    An obsolete noun for a fragrance, or the substance that gives it off. Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) has "a wilderness of sweets," a garden thick with scent. The plural can mislead a modern reader into seeing candy. In older verse, read the setting: flowers and air point to perfume, not confectionery. Perfume and scent have since taken over the job. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Sweet historically denoted something pleasant in smell or a perfume. en.wiktionary.org
    • John Milton wrote Paradise Lost. gutenberg.org
    • Paradise Lost was first published in 1667. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
    • Paradise Lost contains a wilderness of sweets in a setting of fragrant vegetation. gutenberg.org
21. 21
    adjective

    Free from excessive unwanted substances such as acid or sulfur.