marshmallow

[ mahrsh-mel-oh, -mal-oh ]

noun

1. a sweetened paste or confection made from the mucilaginous root of the marsh mallow.
2. a similar confection, usually soft and spongy, made from gum arabic or gelatin, sugar, corn syrup, and flavoring.

marshmallow

/ ˌmɑːʃˈmæləʊ /

noun

1. a sweet of a spongy texture containing gum arabic or gelatine, sugar, etc
2. a sweetened paste or confection made from the root of the marsh mallow

Derived Forms

• ˌmarshˈmallowy, adjective

Other Words From

• marshmallow·y adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of marshmallow¹

First recorded in 1905–10; marsh mallow

Example Sentences

Most people decide it’s simpler just to hang on to the marshmallow they have in their possession and assume the small chance doesn’t arrive.

From Washington Post

Let the marshmallows cool completely, at least 3 hours and up to overnight, before cutting.

From Washington Post

Homemade marshmallows are sticky little buddies, so be sure to coat them on all sides in confectioners’ sugar before serving or storing.

From Washington Post

Lately, it’s become my go-to weekend snack thanks to a backyard fire pit and my longtime devotion to homemade marshmallows.

From Washington Post

Homemade marshmallows will take your s’mores to the next levelBut you don’t need a fire pit, and, as Ina would say, store-bought marshmallows are fine.

From Washington Post

She is everywhere and nowhere, this little marshmallow-headed kitty.

From The Daily Beast

Melt butter and marshmallow in big stock pot then add puffed rice cereal.

From The Daily Beast

One protest veteran, who asked not to be named, described Barrett as a “marshmallow.”

From The Daily Beast

A marriage made in heaven, soft, sweet, marshmallow meringue, melting cream, and a smattering of fruit.

From The Daily Beast

The result is lighter than buttercream but more intense than marshmallow.

From The Daily Beast

Wash, dry and stone fruit; fill with a half marshmallow or blanched almond or chopped nuts and raisins and roll in sugar.

From Project Gutenberg

Sometimes Betsey added a half cup of walnuts or pecans with the marshmallow cream.

From Project Gutenberg

The candies in which Betsey put marshmallow cream she considered her "very choicest" as she expressed it.

From Project Gutenberg

Bake in layers, and put marshmallow filling between the layers and on top.

From Project Gutenberg

I wish you saved that, Grace, and gave away the marshmallow; I just love tutti-frutti, declared Cleo.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• amiable
• cordial
• even-tempered
• friendly
• good-hearted
• good-humored
• gracious

More About Marshmallow

What is the Marshmallow Test?

The Marshmallow Test is a famous psychological test performed on young children in the 1960s linking delayed gratification (a treat right now … or two later?) to success later in life.

A 2018 replication notably concluded, though, that socioeconomic background significantly influenced the ability of children to delay their gratification. So the test was biased.

Where did the Marshmallow Test come from?

The Marshmallow Test was first administered by psychologist Walter Mischel at Stanford University’s Bing Nursery School in 1960. To study the development of self-control and patience in young children, Mischel devised an experiment, “Attention in Delay of Gratification,” popularly called the Marshmallow Test by the 1990s.

The test placed a choice before children. They could eat a treat—often in the form of a marshmallow but also a pretzel or cookie—before them right away or get two treats if they waited 15 minutes, during which time the experimenter would leave the room and observe.

Some kids ate the marshmallow right away, others couldn’t make it the full waiting period, and about a third earned that second treat. The study showed children hiding their faces, squirming, or engaging in make-believe to help them cope with the temptation.

The Marshmallow Test gained greater recognition after Mischel followed up on his subjects in the 1980–90s, where he found that children who earned the second treat scored significantly higher on their SATs than their counterparts and avoided problems like drug addiction and jail time at greater rates.

Mischel wrote up his research for general audiences in his 2014 book Marshmallow Test, which championed self-control as the key to success.

Sound too good to be true?

Well, in a study published in 2018, researchers Tyler Watts, Greg Duncan, and Hoanan Quan replicated the Marshmallow Test. They found a strong correlation between a child’s socioeconomic status and their early ability to resist the marshmallow.

Their results suggest that the original experiment failed to take into account outside factors such as family background and home environment, with poorer children perhaps less motivated to wait due to the uncertainties and challenges of their everyday lives.

How to use the term Marshmallow Test

The Marshmallow Test comes up in discussions of popular psychology and economics, such as on Freakonomics or in high school or college courses. Sometimes, it’s the subject of humorous observations about adult temptations.

Since 2018, the Marshmallow Test has come under scrutiny for the overpromises or oversights of experiments in social science, including the so-called “replication crisis,” where the results of major and influential studies have been found impossible to replicate.

The marshmallow test is one of the most well-known studies in all of psychology, but a new replication suggests we've been learning the wrong lesson from its findings for decades: https://t.co/sHUrzPXVZO pic.twitter.com/dIz8gBEMIx

— You Are Not So Smart (@notsmartblog) July 3, 2018

I'm not even 100% sure I'd be able to pass the marshmallow test as an adult.

— scott olberding (@isthatsol) July 2, 2018

More examples of marshmallow test:

“The study, published this week in the journal Developmental Psychology, resurrected an experiment that’s become a developmental psychology classic: the so-called marshmallow test.”
—Melissa Healey, The Los Angeles Times, June 2018

Note

This content is not meant to be a formal definition of this term. Rather, it is an informal summary that seeks to provide supplemental information and context important to know or keep in mind about the term’s history, meaning, and usage.