SWEETEN

v. 1 sugar, sugar-coat Can you think of nothing that would sweeten the bad news? 2 dress up, make more attractive or agreeable, sugar-coat, embellish, embroider; make less painful, mitigate, alleviate, assuage, lighten, soften, palliate, mollify, ease, allay, moderate, temper: Perhaps the shareholders would be more amenable to the take-over were the buyers to sweeten the offer