sugarcoat

verb

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱorkeh₂ Proto-Indo-Iranian *ćárkaraH Proto-Indo-Aryan *śárkaraH Sanskrit शर्क॑रा (śárkarā) Gandhari 𐨭𐨐𐨪 (śakara)bor. Middle Persian 𐭱𐭪𐭥 (šakar)bor. Arabic سُكَّر (sukkar)bor. Old Italian zuccherobor. Old French çucrebor. Middle English sugre English sugar Proto-Germanic *kuttôbor. Latin cotta Old French cottebor. Middle English cote English coat English sugarcoat From sugar + coat; figurative sense from the practice of coating medicinal tablets or pills with sugar in order to disguise their unpleasant taste (sugarcoating the pill).

1. To coat with sugar.
2. To make superficially more attractive; to give a falsely pleasant appearance to.

   “There's no way to sugarcoat the loss of the space shuttle; it was an unmitigated disaster.”

   “I went to the unheard-of trouble of re-writing the letter and saying the same harsh things softly, so as to sugarcoat the anguish and make it a little more endurable […]”