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

Compare meaning

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

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ice cream

Lyubov thinks back to when she used to ride her bike across the border into Ukraine to shop for sausages, yarn and ice cream.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

She bribes the boys with ice cream so they’ll indulge her road trips into butterfly country, and even then, compliance is sometimes grudging.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

We finished with vanilla ice cream, fragrant olive oil and a generous scoop of caviar.

From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026

Right now it’s banana ice cream with blueberries and it’s heaven.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026

I was still working on my last few bites of ice cream when he stood up.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Related Words

• frozen yogurt
• sherbet
• sorbet