Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "treacle" [trea•cle]

  • Cloying speech or sentiment. (noun)
  • Chiefly British Molasses. (noun)
  • A medicinal compound formerly used as an antidote for poison. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "treacle" in a sentence
  • "The English term treacle comes via the French triacle from the Latin theriaca, meaning antidotes against poison."
  • "Rope suspended upon poles, to which was tied by small twine two lumps of pudding drip'd in treacle, under which stood on stools, two boys with their hands tied behind them, whose business it was to catch the pudding in their mouths!"
  • "We moaned back then, but the politics and bureaucracy you guys face, it must be like swimming uphill in treacle!"