toothpaste
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of toothpaste
Explanation
Toothpaste is the stuff you put on your toothbrush to clean your teeth. Toothpaste polishes your teeth, freshens your breath, and makes you altogether more pleasant to be around. Most toothpaste is a thick paste or gel, a type of dentifrice, or cleaning agent for teeth. Humans have used some version of toothpaste since at least 5000 BCE, when the ancient Egyptians cleaned their teeth with a mixture of crushed eggshells, pumice, and burnt ox hooves. Today's toothpaste is more likely to contain ingredients like fluoride, baking soda, and mint flavoring.
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.
Outside, migrant women, some with children, left carrying plastic bags filled with basics such as bread and toothpaste.
From Barron's • May 25, 2026
The toothpaste he bought at Costco lasted longer than our marriage.
From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2026
An opinion piece published Wednesday by La Vanguardia newspaper—owned by a close friend of Isak—said Jonathan’s arrest leaves “a bitter taste in the mouth that no toothpaste or mouthwash can wash away.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 20, 2026
It sells a former school-dinner staple known as chocolate toothpaste.
From BBC • Apr. 17, 2026
At night before bedtime, we all took turns brushing our teeth, but when money was tight and we couldn’t afford toothpaste, my mom told us to brush with coal.
From "How Dare the Sun Rise" by Sandra Uwiringiyimana
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.
