a delicate, frothy mixture made with beaten egg whites and sugar or hot syrup, and browned, used as a topping for pies, pastry, etc.
a pastry or pastry shell made by baking such a mixture, sometimes filled with fruit, whipped cream, etc.
stiffly beaten egg whites mixed with sugar and baked, often as a topping for pies, cakes, etc
a small cake or shell of this mixture, often filled with cream
1700–10; < French méringue; perhaps to be identified with dial. (Walloon) maringue shepherd's loaf, marinde food for an outdoor repast (< Latin merenda light afternoon meal, probably feminine gerund of merere to merit, such a meal being part of a laborer's wages), though certain evidence is lacking; association with the town of Meiringen (Bern canton, Switzerland) is solely by folk etymology
< French < Haitian Creole
Meringue is a very sweet dessert or dessert topping that's made out of egg whites and sugar. Meringue is so light and airy that it melts on your tongue. To make a meringue, you need to beat egg whites with sugar until they're thick and hold stiff peaks. After baking, a good meringue will be delicately crisp on the outside, and soft on the inside. You might like lemon meringue pie, or chocolate meringue cookies. The origin of the word meringue, aside from its birth as the French méringue, is unclear. Meringue was reportedly invented in eighteenth century Switzerland and perfected in Italy.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The shindig included a three-tiered pink cake, pink cocktails garnished with meringue that looked like clouds and balloons galore.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 20, 2026
At home, however, poaching islands of meringue has always felt like too much messy work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
With flavors like smoked blue cheese, mango passionfruit, Vietnamese coffee, and calamansi meringue pie, every single bonbon is a flavor explosion and worthy of celebration.
From Salon ● Dec. 4, 2025
Prix-fixe dishes change every three months, but feature magazine-worthy creations like The Bees’ Nest, made with toasted honey, Franco-Suisse meringue, vanilla pear, apple compote and whipped honey ganache — each paired with a beverage.
From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2025
Grandpa licked some meringue off his fork while he pondered.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
Turn the cream out on an earthen dish and cover every part with the méringue.
From Miss Parloa's New Cook Book by Parloa, Maria
A cottage pudding with a little shredded orange peel, nuts, or cocoanut in it, or with a chocolate, wine, or méringue sauce, will be an agreeable change from the plain pudding with hard sauce.
From The Century Cook Book by Ronald, Mary
The méringue paste alluded to as used by foreign confectioners is made by beating the white of an egg with a tablespoonful of powdered sugar until stiff.
From Choice Cookery by Owen, Catherine
Currant Water-Ice.—A pint of currant juice, a pint of syrup, and the whites of three eggs made into méringue paste.
From Choice Cookery by Owen, Catherine
This technique keeps the unique cloud-like character of the meringues while allowing the team to make them in advance of service.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
Not the delicate meringues or the aggressively frosted cupcakes of childhood birthday parties, but the muscular, memory-laced ones.
From Salon ● Apr. 16, 2025
He heaped silver- and gold-rimmed porcelain serving platters with cookies, meringues, chocolates and nuts, and placed them below a tower of French macarons from Ladurée.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 13, 2022
She sells fresh fruit like mangos, mamoncillos and nances, as well as roasted cashews, brightly colored meringues and toys for children.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2022
There were some condemned head-dresses lying in disgrace—strange shapes of starch like candle extinguishers, and meringues, and the double horns of cows.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
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.
