sop
sop Lexical Profile
sop Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Something of little real value offered as a concession to appease, pacify, or bribe someone.
"Critics dismissed the minor tax rebate as a mere sop to angry voters before the election."
A piece of bread or toast soaked in a liquid such as soup, gravy, broth, or milk.
"The stew was traditionally served over a thick sop of toasted country bread."
A weak, timid, or overly sentimental person; a milksop.
"He refused to be treated like a helpless sop who could not stand up for his own interests."
• verb
To soak up or absorb a liquid using bread, a sponge, or a cloth (usually followed by 'up').
"She used a warm piece of crusty bread to sop up the remaining sauce on her plate."
To dip, dunk, or drench something thoroughly in liquid.
"After walking home through the sudden downpour, his heavy wool coat was completely sopped with rain."
• Rhymes for sop
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
From Old English 'sopp', meaning a piece of bread soaked in liquid, derived from a Proto-Germanic root shared with 'sup' and 'soup'. The figurative sense of a pacifying concession alludes to the mythological story of Aeneas throwing a drugged honey-cake to lull Cerberus, the multi-headed hound of the underworld.