confectionery

Everyday

1. Confectionery is sweets, chocolates and similar sugary foods. tree →
2. (formal) A confectionery is a shop or factory that makes or sells sweets and cakes. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life and shops, «confectionery» is the formal word for sweets; supermarket aisles have a confectionery section. In health lessons, pupils learn to limit confectionery for their teeth. In the USA people say «candy».

Examples

• The shop has a big confectionery counter. tree →
• Too much confectionery is bad for your teeth. tree →
• The factory makes chocolate and other confectionery. tree →
• Grandad worked in a confectionery for years. tree →
• Confectionery is on aisle seven. tree →
• The school banned confectionery in lunch boxes. tree →
• Meanwhile the seven Queens lived luxuriously in a splendid palace, attended by hundreds of female slaves, and fed to their hearts' content on sweetmeats and confectionery. tree →

Note

Uncountable. Spelled «-ery» with «e» (not «confectionary», though that spelling is also seen). A person who makes sweets is a «confectioner». «Confectioners' sugar» (USA) = icing sugar.