Hot Sauce Meaning: Definition, Uses, and Examples

Meaning 1：hot sauce (Hot sauce)

Hot sauce 🔊

/hɒt sɔːs/

A spicy liquid made from chili peppers, vinegar, and spices, used to add heat and flavor to food.

hot sauce 🔊

➕

/hɒt sɔːs/

A spicy liquid condiment made from chili peppers, vinegar, and spices, used to add heat and flavor to food.

📁 Category：Diet & Health 🔖 Level：初级

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Root Explanation

Compound word from 'hot' (meaning spicy) and 'sauce' (liquid condiment).

💡 Mnemonic

Think of a hot pepper sweating in a bottle—squeeze it for a spicy kick!

📖 Example

Could you pass the hot sauce? I need to spice up this pizza. 🔊 Could you pass the hot sauce? I need to spice up this pizza.

🔗 Collocations

add hot sauce to – add hot sauce to

a bottle of hot sauce – a bottle of hot sauce

mild hot sauce – mild hot sauce

🔄 Synonyms

chili sauce (n.) – A sauce made primarily from chili peppers, often similar to hot sauce but may be less vinegary.

pepper sauce (n.) – A general term for any sauce based on peppers, including hot sauce.

tabasco (n.) – A brand of hot sauce that has become a generic term for spicy pepper sauce.

🚫 Antonyms

mild sauce (n.) – A sauce with little to no spiciness, opposite in heat level.

📖 Cultural Story

Hot sauce has ancient roots in Mesoamerican cultures, where chili peppers were blended into sauces. It became popular in the U.S. via Louisiana-style sauces like Tabasco, now a global condiment found on tables from tacos to wings.