Make Your Point: CONFECTION

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pronounce CONFECTION:

kun FECK shun

connect this word to others:

At the heart of our word confection is the Latin facere, "to make or to do." See if you can recall some other terms that derive from facere:

1. The use of clever scheming to deceive people is a___fice.

2. A pretense, or a false display of something, is an __fect______.

3. Something that gives off a smell or involves the sense of smell is __fact___.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

(Source: Google Image search for "confections")

"Confection" traces back to the Latin conficere, meaning "to prepare," or more literally, "to make with." In its oldest sense in English, confection was the process of creating things by combining different ingredients.

From there, "confection" grew to mean "a medicine or potion created from blending different drugs, especially with a sweetener," and from there, the meaning morphed into the one we use most often today: "a sweet little fancy treat." Like the kind pictured above.

That's the literal meaning that we use today. We also use a figurative one: a confection is something that reminds you of a sweet little fancy treat because it was created with effort and artistry, and it delights the senses, but it isn't very nourishing or substantial.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Noun, usually the countable kind: "He arrived with boxes of confections for the children;" "With sweet lyrics, syncopation, and guitar, 'Shape of You' is a confection."

Other forms:

The plural noun is "confections."

A "confectionary" is a place where confections (literal or figurative) are made, and "confectioners" are people who make confections.

"Confectionary" is also an adjective, as in "'Shape of You' is a confectionary song."

how to use it:

When you want to suggest that some kind of creation—like a song, a painting, a movie, a book, or an article of clothing—is sweet, fancy, delicious, decorative, and/or carefully crafted, but ultimately kind of empty, silly, frivolous, meaningless, or childish, you can call it a confection.

You might say it's a confection of certain materials or components, as in "a confection of taffeta and ribbons," "a confection of zany characters," or "an extravagant confection of striped silk (J. K. Rowling)."

examples:

"Her hat was an enchanting confection of plumes and gossamer silk, dyed to match her dress."
— Jacqueline Kelly, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, 2009

"What are these authors of reputation doing — grown men and women of the twentieth century — granting supernatural powers to their characters? He never made it all the way through a single one of those irksome confections. And written for adults, not children."
— Ian McEwan, Saturday, 2005

has this page helped you understand "confection"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "confection" without saying "bonbon" or "sweet treat."

try it out:

Fill in the blank: "(Some particular song, album, book, movie, or other creative work) is a confection."

Example 1: "'Soda Pop,' from the soundtrack to KPop Demon Hunters, is a confection, an upbeat pop number dotted with sweet harmonies, bubbly percussion, Korean words, and a key change."

Example 2: "[Saint Etienne's] haunting tribute to the Carpenters, 'Downey CA,' appeared on 2000's 'Sound of Water' — an icy, melancholy confection, possibly the most fully realized album of its career."
— Ernesto Lechner, Los Angeles Times, 16 September 2025

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Fill In For the Poet."

I'll give you a few lines from a poem, with a blank where a word that we've studied before appears, along with the word's definition. See if you can come up with it. If you can't, that's fine: fill in the blank to your satisfaction.

To check out some examples, head here.

Try this today:

From Robert Frost's poem "Acquainted with the Night:"

And further still at an unearthly height,
One _____ clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.

Definition: "providing light and, perhaps, inspiration."

To see the word the poet chose, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. The opposite of CONFECTION could be

A. SOFT TENDRIL or DIAPHANEITY (quality of being thin, delicate, and sheer).
B. LEAN PROTEIN or PIECE DE RESISTANCE (main dish or most impressive, substantial part).
C. STURDY FOOTWEAR or ROUGHSHODDINESS (cruel roughness, as if transferred by nail-studded shoes).

2. Of her mother's traditional _____, Ashlie D. Stevens wrote that she totes them home every year, "feeling their weight as more than confection," as "threads of connection."

A. squares of lasagna and meatballs
B. peanut butter balls and cranberry date bars
C. salty French fries with salsa and carne asada

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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