- present participle of frost.
frosting
Americannoun
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frostings
plural
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a sweet mixture, cooked or uncooked, for coating or filling cakes, cookies, and the like; icing.
-
a dull or lusterless finish, as on metal or glass.
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a process of highlighting the hair by bleaching selected strands.
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a material used for decorative work, as signs, displays, etc., made from coarse flakes of powdered glass.
idioms
noun
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a soft icing based on sugar and egg whites
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Also called: icing. a sugar preparation, variously flavoured and coloured, for coating and decorating cakes, biscuits, etc
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a rough or matt finish on glass, silver, etc
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slang the practice of stealing a car while the owner has left it idling to defrost the windows and heat the engine
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of frosting
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:
Beyond serving customers at the counter, I also worked in the back, finishing donuts through tasks like jelly filling, frosting and powdering.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
Everything else is just frosting on the cake.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 30, 2026
She punctuates the quip by taking a big bite, leaving a glob of frosting on her face.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2026
It’s when we enjoy slices of birthday cake to our hearts’ content, savoring every single crumb and licking our plates clean of any frosting.
From Salon ● Jan. 10, 2026
The frosting wasn’t as easy to work with as jungle mud.
From "The One and Only Ivan" by Katherine Applegate
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Back in 2022, Parton launched her own cake mixes and frostings via a multiyear partnership with Duncan Hines’ parent company, Conagra Brands.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2024
She offers 50 cakes — sheet cakes, stacked cakes, rolled cakes, even ice cream cakes — and many fillings, soaks and frostings to make them your own.
From New York Times ● Dec. 14, 2021
Baking often necessitates frostings, caramels, and creams, which can be finicky if they’re not kept at a steady temperature.
From Slate ● May 5, 2020
The bold frostings on the fried cakes owe their colors to the fruits and purées that flavor them; no artificial dyes or preservatives are used here.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 27, 2018
The six tiers of fabric are like different frostings of tulle and lace and silk.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
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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.