/ði ˈaɪsɪŋ ɒn ðə ˈkeɪk/
English idiom, everyday. Something extra that makes a good thing even better.
Draft Not yet checked by a native English speaker.
How do people use The icing on the cake
?
Everyday English, fine in speech and writing. It usually comes after “be”: “the pool was the icing on the cake”, “that was just icing on the cake”. It can also be ironic, naming the last bad thing in a bad day: “and the icing on the cake was a flat tire”.
Also said icing on the cake
The icing on the cake
in real sentences
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That was just icing on the cake.
Tatoeba, sentence by CM, CC BY 2.0 FR
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The swimming pool in the garden was the icing on the cake.
Tatoeba, sentence by sundown, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does The icing on the cake
come from?
The cake is already good and the icing makes it better, which is the whole idea. English Wiktionary gives no etymology, and its oldest quotation is from the Railway Magazine in 1957, which is only the earliest example on the page. I found no dated first use.
Mistakes learners make with The icing on the cake
Missing the irony. When someone lists their disasters and ends with “the icing on the cake”, the last thing is the worst part, not a nice bonus.
Other English idioms like The icing on the cake
Spot a mistake in The icing on the cake
?
Send a correction, or a sentence you’d actually say with it. Everything is read before anything on this page changes.