Phrase guide

soft drink

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Any non-alcoholic drink that is carbonated, and usually also sweet.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • If you'd like a soft drink, we have cola and lemonade.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any non-alcoholic drink.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

nonalcoholic beverage (usually carbonated)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: beverage, drink, drinkable, potable

Narrower terms: pop, soda, soda pop, soda water, tonic, birch beer, bitter lemon, cola, dope, cream soda, egg cream, ginger ale, ginger pop, orange soda, phosphate, root beer, sarsaparilla, tonic water, quinine water

History

Etymology

So called in contrast to strong alcoholic beverages, which are "hard liquors".

Across languages

Translations

103 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مَشْرُوب غَازِيّ (mašrūb ḡāziyy) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Arabic: حاجة ساقعة (ḥāga sáʔʕa) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Arabic: كازوزه (kazūza) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Arabic: أزوزه (azūza) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Arabic: بيبس (bebs) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Chinese Cantonese: 汽水 (hei3 seoi2) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Chinese: 汽水 (zh-min-nan) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Chinese Mandarin: 軟性飲料 /软性饮料 (ruǎnxìng yǐnliào) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Chinese Mandarin: 軟飲料 /软饮料 (ruǎnyǐnliào) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Chinese Mandarin: 汽水 (qìshuǐ) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Danish: sodavand — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Danish: læskedrik — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Dutch: frisdrank — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Dutch: prik — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Dutch: limonade — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Dutch: priklimonade — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Dzongkha: བསིལ་འཐུང (bsil 'thung) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Dzongkha: མངར་ཆུ (mngar chu) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Esperanto: refreŝigaĵo — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Esperanto: senalkoholaĵo — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Estonian: karastusjook — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Faroese: sodavatn — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Finnish: virvoitusjuoma — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Finnish: limonaati — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Finnish: limonadi — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • French: boisson gazeuse — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • French: soda — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Galician: refresco — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • German: Erfrischungsgetränk — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • German: Limonade — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • German: Brause — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • German: Sprudel — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • German: Sprudelsaft — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Greek: αναψυκτικό (anapsyktikó) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Hebrew: מַשְׁקֶה קַל (mashké kal) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Hebrew: מַשְׁקָאוֹת קַלִּים (mashkaót kalím) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Hindi: सोडा (soḍā) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Hindi: सोडाआ (soḍāā) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Hungarian: üdítő — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Hungarian: üdítőital — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Icelandic: gosdrykkur — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Ido: sodajo — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Indonesian: minuman ringan — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Italian: bibita — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Italian: bevanda gassata — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Japanese: 清涼飲料 (seiryōinryō) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Japanese: 清涼飲料水 (seiryōinryōsui) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Japanese: ソフトドリンク (sofutodorinku) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Khmer: ភេសជ្ជ (phesachch) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Korean: 청량음료 (cheongnyang'eumnyo) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Korean: 소프트 드링크 (sopeuteu deuringkeu) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Macedonian: гази́ран пи́јалак (gazíran píjalak) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Macedonian: газо́за (gazóza) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Malay: minuman ringan — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Māori: wai reka — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Mongolian: хийжүүлсэн ундаа (xiižüülsen undaa) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Classical Nahuatl: tzopelātl — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Navajo: tó dilchxoshí — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Navajo: tó łichxíʼí — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Norwegian: brus — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Persian: نوشابه گازدار (nušâbe-ye gâzdâr) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Pohnpeian: saida — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Polish: napój gazowany — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Portuguese: refrigerante — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Portuguese: refresco — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Portuguese: soda — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Romanian: băutură răcoritoare — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Romanian: răcoritoare — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Russian: безалкого́льный напи́ток (bezalkogólʹnyj napítok) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Russian: газиро́ванный напи́ток (gaziróvannyj napítok) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Scottish Gaelic: deoch-lag — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Serbo-Croatian: безалкохолно пиће — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Serbo-Croatian: bezalkoholno piće — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Spanish: gaseosa — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Spanish: bebida — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Spanish: refresco — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Spanish: soda — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Spanish: agua (colloquial - short for agua gaseosa) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Spanish: casera — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Spanish: chesco — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Spanish: cola — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Spanish: fresco — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Spanish: bebida de fantasia — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Swedish: läsk — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Swedish: dricka — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Swedish: lemonad — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Swedish: brus — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Swedish: läskedryck — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Tamil: குளிர்பானம் (kuḷirpāṉam) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Thai: น้ําอัดลม (náam-àt-lom) — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Tok Pisin: loliwara — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Copala Triqui: na tzi̱ꞌ — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Vietnamese: nước ngọt có ga — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Vietnamese: nước ngọt — sweet, non-alcoholic carbonated beverage
  • Chinese Mandarin: 不含酒精的飲料 /不含酒精的饮料 (bù hán jiǔjīng de yǐnliào) — any non-alcoholic beverage, such as Cola or milk
  • Finnish: alkoholiton juoma — any non-alcoholic beverage, such as Cola or milk
  • German: alkoholfreies Getränk — any non-alcoholic beverage, such as Cola or milk
  • Hungarian: alkoholmentes ital — any non-alcoholic beverage, such as Cola or milk
  • Indonesian: minuman ringan — any non-alcoholic beverage, such as Cola or milk
  • Japanese: ソフトドリンク (sofuto dorinku) — any non-alcoholic beverage, such as Cola or milk
  • Korean: 소프트 드링크 (sopeuteu deuringkeu) — any non-alcoholic beverage, such as Cola or milk
  • Polish: napój bezalkoholowy — any non-alcoholic beverage, such as Cola or milk
  • Vietnamese: đồ uống không cồn — any non-alcoholic beverage, such as Cola or milk