lipstick
Americannoun
-
lipsticks
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of lipstick
Explanation
Lipstick is makeup that makes your lips look darker, redder, or shinier. Your French teacher might be famous in your school for her heart-shaped glasses and bright pink lipstick. Some people like to wear lipstick every day, while others save it for fancy occasions. Most lipstick is a waxy, slightly creamy substance in a stick that's tinted with red pigment that colors your lips. It's a cosmetic that dates back at least to medieval times, and probably even farther back than that. In the 1600s, a fashionable look for upper class European women was a pale white face and bright red lipstick.
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:
Its factories can supply everything from frozen meat and candy to lipstick, medicine capsules and sports hijabs.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
What to be aware of: Whatever your look, don't share your balm or lipstick.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
Either way, the onetime roommates and bandmates pioneered a discomfiting broken-doll aesthetic of smudged eyeliner, smeared lipstick and plastic barrettes clipped to hanks of bleached-out hair.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026
So where am I supposed to check my lipstick, mister?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 25, 2026
Before Highboy passed a jar to Willie he borrowed Portia’s lipstick and drew a red line to set the boundary of the drink.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
It launched a range of $160 Louis Vuitton lipsticks in August and will keep a tight leash on manufacturing and distribution.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2025
It worked out that lipsticks, glosses and balms were usually affordable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2024
"But now the lipsticks and make-up go unworn, and clothes are no longer of interest, especially the leopard print."
From BBC ● Mar. 21, 2024
In July, cookie cutters shaped like lipsticks and convertible cars picked up steam, thanks to Barbie mania.
From New York Times ● Dec. 19, 2023
After that, the four of us wander the mall, trying on purple lipsticks and eating sour apple candy slices crusted in sugar that turn my tongue green.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
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.
