toothpaste
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of toothpaste
Explanation
Toothpaste is the stuff you put on your toothbrush to clean your teeth. Toothpaste polishes your teeth, freshens your breath, and makes you altogether more pleasant to be around. Most toothpaste is a thick paste or gel, a type of dentifrice, or cleaning agent for teeth. Humans have used some version of toothpaste since at least 5000 BCE, when the ancient Egyptians cleaned their teeth with a mixture of crushed eggshells, pumice, and burnt ox hooves. Today's toothpaste is more likely to contain ingredients like fluoride, baking soda, and mint flavoring.
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:
A robot assembly line packs nitrocellulose with the texture of toothpaste into cylinders shaped like large toilet-paper rolls.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Grohl was quizzed by the pupils about his favourite toothpaste, to which he answered "whitening", before the star told anecdotes including of the time he broke his leg falling off stage in 2015.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
Outside, migrant women, some with children, left carrying plastic bags filled with basics such as bread and toothpaste.
From Barron's ● May 25, 2026
The toothpaste he bought at Costco lasted longer than our marriage.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026
When he had lived upstairs, he had once tasted toothpaste when a careless guest left the cap off a tube.
From "Ralph S. Mouse" by Beverly Cleary
Some children will use the 23 million toothbrushes and toothpastes donated by Colgate to the programme.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2025
Yet even with the proliferation of fluoride-containing toothpastes and dental sealants, tooth decay is still the most common chronic disease affecting American children, and the average senior citizen is missing at least 10 permanent teeth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 6, 2025
A 2022 analysis from Insight Partners estimates Americans spend over $6 billion per year on the home whitening market alone, including strips, gels, devices and specialized toothpastes.
From Salon ● Oct. 29, 2023
Colgate recently introduced new premium whitening toothpastes in China targeting affluent city dwellers.
From Reuters ● Mar. 2, 2023
It is also used as a tooth whitener in some toothpastes, and as a common household cleaning agent.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 22, 2021
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
