secret sauce

American

[see-krit saws] / ˈsi krɪt ˈsɔs /

noun

a secret element, strategy, procedure, etc., that accounts for or increases the chances of success.

The app's secret sauce is its simple interface.

Etymology

Origin of secret sauce

From a so-called sauce for hamburgers whose ingredients are a closely held secret

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

They see the political equivalent of In-N-Out Burger Spread—a new secret sauce to win over voters.

From The Wall Street Journal

Belton wrote in a note that for software, it was never the code itself which was the “secret sauce” or “competitive advantage.”

From MarketWatch

Its algorithm is the "secret sauce" that has driven the app's huge popularity.

From BBC

“A key ingredient in the U.S. economy’s secret sauce is that we attract the best and the brightest from all over the world to come here to work,” he said.

From Barron's

The algorithms are considered the secret sauce behind the app’s success and were built by ByteDance’s Chinese researchers.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023