ice cream

American  

noun

1. a frozen food containing cream or milk and butterfat, sugar, flavoring, and sometimes eggs.

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ice cream British  

noun

1. a kind of sweetened frozen liquid, properly made from cream and egg yolks but often made from milk or a custard base, flavoured in various ways

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Etymology

Origin of ice cream

First recorded in 1735–45

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Compare meaning

How does ice-cream compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• sorbet vs. ice cream
• custard vs. ice cream
• ice milk vs. ice cream
• frozen custard vs. ice cream

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ice cream

I recently finished an ice cream in Copenhagen and found myself stumped at the trash bins, wrapper in hand.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

Sold as powder, extract, paste, or frozen puree, ube is easily mixed into coffee, pastries, ice cream, spreads and even make-up.

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

"If you start out with pure vanilla ice cream but start mixing in sprinkles soon after, it won't be long until you can no longer find any pristine, plain, vanilla ice cream," Zhu said.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026

Dessert featured the two leaders and their fellow diners tucking into vanilla crémeux with sour cherry confit, with an accompanying ice cream "made with harvested White House honey".

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026

"If this mystery is about ice cream," Bess said, "does that make it a cold case?"

From "Scream for Ice Cream: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #2" by Carolyn Keene

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Related Words

• frozen yogurt
• sherbet
• sorbet

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