sass

C2+ Topic:Communication

US /sæs/ UK /sæs/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like sash /s/ vs /ʃ/

Meanings

1

noun
impudent or cheeky talk; to speak impertinently to someone

The child gave her teacher a bit of sass and was sent to the corner.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · impudent or cheeky talk; to... impudence cheekbacktalkinsolence lip sauciness

Opposites

deference respect politeness

Word family

Derived forms sassysasser

Related forms sassysauce saucy

Etymology

An American English variant of sauce in its figurative sense 'impertinence', recorded from the early 19th century; sauce derives from Latin salsus ('salted').

salsus Latin sal Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Communication

External links

# sass

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /sæs/
**IPA (UK):** /sæs/

## Meanings
1. impudent or cheeky talk; to speak impertinently to someone

## Examples
- The child gave her teacher a bit of sass and was sent to the corner.

## Synonyms
- impudence
- cheek
- backtalk
- insolence
- lip
- sauciness

## Antonyms
- deference
- respect
- politeness

## Derived Forms
- sassy
- sasser

## Related Forms
- sassy
- sauce
- saucy

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: salsus
- Root: sal

## Etymology
An American English variant of sauce in its figurative sense 'impertinence', recorded from the early 19th century; sauce derives from Latin salsus ('salted').

## AI Etymology
Sass is from an American English variant of sauce in its figurative sense 'impertinence', recorded from the early 19th century; sauce derives from Latin salsus ('salted'). The historical chain includes Latin salsus and Latin sal. Older glosses in the chain include "impertinence" and "salted", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, sass is best read as borrowing, yielding an English noun and verb shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a noun and verb, with the sense "impudent or cheeky talk; to speak impertinently to someone". English derivatives include sassy and sasser; related forms include sassy, sauce, and saucy. The result is an English noun and verb whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- Communication

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