cotton candy

American

noun

a fluffy, sweet confection whipped from spun sugar and gathered or wound around a stick or cone-shaped paper core.

cotton candy British

noun

Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): candyfloss. Austral name: fairyfloss. a very light fluffy confection made from coloured spun sugar, usually held on a stick

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

cotton candies

plural

Etymology

Origin of cotton candy

An Americanism dating back to 1925–30

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.

See Examples For:

cotton candy

He pointed to one of his favorite trees, a Japanese katsura, that smells like cotton candy when its leaves begin to fall in autumn.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

It’s a piece of delicious, fluffy cotton candy, sweet and quick-dissolving.

From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026

I can see how it might feel like it’s been treated like a ball of cotton candy to give it away.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 6, 2026

This combination makes them extraordinarily low in density -- more like planetary-sized cotton candy than solid, rocky worlds.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 31, 2026

She tried each flavor, even though cotton candy bubble gum twist hurt her teeth.

From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn

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