use-icon

HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY

To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.

Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.

guide to the dictionary

use-icon

THE USAGE PANEL

The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.

The Panelists

open-icon

AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP

The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.

scroll-icon

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG

The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.

100-words-icon

See word lists from the best-selling 100 Words Series!

Find out more!

open-icon

INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?

Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com

sweet (swēt)
Share:
adj. sweet·er, sweet·est
1. Having the taste of sugar or a substance containing or resembling sugar, as honey or saccharin.
2.
a. Containing or derived from sugar.
b. Retaining some natural sugar; not dry: a sweet wine.
3.
a. Pleasing to the senses; agreeable: the sweet song of the lark; a sweet face.
b. Pleasing to the mind or feelings; gratifying: sweet revenge.
4. Having a pleasing disposition; lovable: a sweet child.
5. Kind; gracious: It was sweet of him to help out.
6. Fragrant; perfumed: a sweet scent.
7. Not saline or salted: sweet water; sweet butter.
8. Not spoiled, sour, or decaying; fresh: sweet milk.
9. Free of acid or acidity: sweet soil.
10. Low in sulfur content: sweet fuel oil.
11. Music Of, relating to, or being a form of jazz characterized by adherence to a melodic line and to a time signature.
12. Slang
a. Remarkable; outstanding.
b. Used as an intensive: took his own sweet time to finish; earns a sweet million per year.
adv.
In a sweet manner; sweetly.
n.
1. Sweet taste or quality; sweetness.
2. Something sweet to the taste.
3. sweets
a. Foods, such as candy, pastries, puddings, or preserves, that are high in sugar content.
b. Informal Sweet potatoes: candied sweets.
4. Chiefly British
a. A sweet dish, such as pudding, served as dessert.
b. A sweetmeat or confection.
5. A dear or beloved person.
6. Something pleasing to the mind or feelings.
Idiom:
sweet on Informal
Enamored of; in love with.

[Middle English swete, from Old English swēte; see swād- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

sweetly adv.
sweetness n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
Sweet (swēt), Henry 1845-1912.
Share:
British phonetician and philologist. A founder of modern phonetics, he is known especially for his History of English Sounds (1874).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.