How to Use sap in a Sentence

sap

1 of 2 noun
  • Pests like aphids suck the sap and cause stunted growth.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 5 Apr. 2026
  • The sap of smoke tree is toxic to humans1.
    — Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Apr. 2026
  • The tree responds by trying to push them out with sticky sap.
    — Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 15 Oct. 2025
  • Aphids cause damage by sucking sap from new growth on plants.
    — Jon Vanzile, The Spruce, 30 Jan. 2026
  • The bird gets the sap from wells drilled in trees by woodpeckers.
    — Megan Oster, chicagotribune.com, 24 Mar. 2021
  • This plant shows signs of an insect sucking on the sap of the plant.
    — oregonlive, 5 Feb. 2023
  • The poor sap flung the ball at you, and from then on, the show was yours — at least for one play.
    — Christopher Kamrani, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2026
  • Sunken reddish, dark brown, or purplish cankers form on the bark and ooze sap.
    — Steve Bender, Southern Living, 10 Mar. 2026
  • If that’s not enough, their sticky sap can drip on cars and driveways below.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 24 Apr. 2026
  • The bark has many bubbles in it that contains the tree’s sap, which is flammable.
    — Jim Baird, Field & Stream, 28 June 2023
  • There’s even some wood sap and ginger in there to round it out with a little zip.
    — Garrett Munce, Men's Health, 28 June 2023
  • Yet when boiled, the sap turned black and could be used as poison on the tips of darts and spears.
    — Noah Lederman, Robb Report, 3 Jan. 2026
  • These tiny pests suck the sap out of your plant, turning leaves yellow and then brown.
    — Leanne Potts, Better Homes & Gardens, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Someone was trying to kill me, and this poor sap got it instead!
    — Vulture, 23 Dec. 2022
  • The sap of cow parship can cause rashes or burns when exposed to skin.
    — Sarah Bowman, The Indianapolis Star, 3 Aug. 2021
  • Another note, pines are prone to bleeding out a lot of messy sap when pruned.
    — oregonlive, 26 Sep. 2021
  • Sticky sap stretched between my fingers like an elastic band.
    — Ryan Knighton, AFAR Media, 31 Oct. 2025
  • As the poor sap caught in the middle of this all, Daniel is largely a blank slate.
    — Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 8 Sep. 2025
  • But with hardened sap — and even fresh sap from pines — this probably won’t be enough.
    — Jeanne Huber, Washington Post, 22 Mar. 2024
  • Both pests feed on rose leaves, sucking the sap or chewing the leaves, which weakens the plant.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 7 Aug. 2025
  • Now this image is floating around in the mind of the poor sap who planned to hunt this deer feeder.
    — Josh Honeycutt, Outdoor Life, 30 Oct. 2025
  • It’s produced in spring, when the weather starts to warm up and the maple trees produce more sap.
    — Pamela MacNaughtan, Bon Appetit Magazine, 18 Nov. 2025
  • But this year’s spring season, during which trees are tapped for their sap, was warmer than normal.
    — Kylie Logan, Fortune, 8 Dec. 2021
  • Every part of it can be dangerous to pets and people, from the sap to the roots.
    — Medgina Saint-Elien, House Beautiful, 7 July 2023
  • This is because cicadas eat the sap from trees and slicing into them to lay their eggs.
    — Christianna Silva, Better Homes & Gardens, 22 Jan. 2024
  • The sap run from the maple trees has started to dwindle as the branches begin to bud out.
    — Bill McKibben, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2026
  • The sap from plants can also leave these tools sticky and inefficient when put to use.
    — Mary Marlowe Leverette, The Spruce, 10 Feb. 2026
  • The sap from the plant’s leaves and stems may cause highly sensitive people to break out in a rash.
    — Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 29 Jan. 2023
  • Sorry to be a sap, but the final brilliant part of the story is love itself.
    — Raven Smith, Vogue, 16 June 2021
  • Aphids are tiny sap-sucking pests that quickly damage houseplants.
    — Jon Vanzile, The Spruce, 30 Jan. 2026

sap

2 of 2 verb
  • Edebiri, too, feels sapped of life.
    — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 29 Aug. 2025
  • Once wet, cotton takes a long time to dry and will sap your heat.
    — Dan Basso, Freep.com, 20 Jan. 2026
  • Once wet, cotton takes a long time to dry and will sap your heat.
    — Dan Basso, Freep.com, 31 Dec. 2025
  • Once wet, cotton takes a long time to dry and will sap your heat.
    — Dan Basso, Freep.com, 3 Dec. 2025
  • Now the deadline has been sapped of all meaning.
    — Ashanty Rosario, The Atlantic, 3 Sep. 2025
  • What on earth sapped the confidence?
    — Brad Evans, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
  • If rates stay there or climb higher, that could sap demand enough to send prices down.
    — Andrew Khouri, Los Angeles Times, 21 Sep. 2023
  • Higher rates tend to sap the earnings power of tech stocks in years ahead.
    — Larry Light, Fortune, 20 Jan. 2022
  • In time, this could sap some of the primary market’s strength.
    — Carol Ryan, WSJ, 11 Nov. 2022
  • Jackson carved them up in the passing game, then sapped their souls with his scrambles.
    — Zak Keefer, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2025
  • The losses were sapping their strength and stamina.
    — ABC News, 28 Feb. 2026
  • Why cast Julia Roberts only to sap all the life out of her?
    — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 29 Aug. 2025
  • While a big spender can sap your ability to save, divorce isn't cheap either.
    — David Rae, Forbes, 17 Oct. 2021
  • Be a lady' meant don't give way to emotions that sap your energy, like anger.
    — CBS News, 20 Sep. 2020
  • This will sap a massive amount of power at a time when the electric grid is already strained .
    — Spencer Kimball, CNBC, 23 Sep. 2025
  • Find out how these energy busters sap your drive — and learn how to re-energize your life.
    — Tehrene Firman, Redbook, 20 Oct. 2017
  • My six-month-old son saps all my energy but also steels my resolve to protect it.
    — Yasmin Tayag, The Atlantic, 18 Jan. 2024
  • The rapid rise quickly sapped buyer borrowing power and caused home prices to fall.
    — Andrew Khouri, Los Angeles Times, 17 Aug. 2023
  • Nardone noted that the boost from the Sweeney ad push will be sapped by higher tariffs.
    — Lisa Kailai Han, CNBC, 25 Aug. 2025
  • Eight-game conference losing streaks can sap the will of veteran teams.
    — Dallas News, 24 Feb. 2023
  • But too often those extra years are not healthy ones — sapping the sweetness from what should be our golden years.
    — Bryan T. Kelly, Fortune, 29 Apr. 2026
  • Spot-clean any dirt spots, bird droppings, or sap as soon as possible to keep them from etching the surface.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 30 May 2026
  • Bad cell service or a weak Wi-Fi connection can sap the magic.
    — Alex Harring, WSJ, 24 Aug. 2022
  • That was most likely intended to sap some momentum from future union drives.
    — Marley Jay, NBC News, 29 Nov. 2023
  • Conway says the swathe of Griselda biters sapped his enthusiasm for his craft.
    — Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 5 May 2023
  • All those bailout forehands and ripping backhands against Sinner had sapped some of the magic.
    — Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 1 Feb. 2026
  • Elliott’s health, knee and calf injuries the last three seasons sapped him of his abilities as an elite runner.
    — Calvin Watkins, Dallas News, 14 Aug. 2023
  • Ian may not be a major hurricane by that point, because forecasters think wind shear and dry air may help sap its strength.
    — Leigh Morgan, al, 26 Sep. 2022
  • The vision of a dark future where robots sap up jobs is a common refrain in journalism.
    — James Vincent, The Verge, 19 Jan. 2023
  • Then his shoulder went, sidelining him for more than a month, sapping him of his explosiveness for the rest of the year.
    — Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 26 Jan. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sap.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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