icing on the cake

Definitions

A thing which intensifies the appreciation of something already good, or (ironic) the regretting of something already bad.

idiomatic

Equivalents

Examples

“We went out for dinner and dancing and the icing on the cake was when my boyfriend proposed to me as we danced.”

“I was having a really bad day at work⟳, but the icing on the cake was getting soaked by a car passing through a puddle.”

“With such advantages as these, the superior thermal efficiency of the diesel becomes no more than the icing on the cake.”

““I'm happy right now. I don't need⟳ to test-drive a bunch of lemons to get⟳ me there. But happily ever after? That's a trip⟳ worth taking. The pièce de résistance. The crème de la crème. The—” “The icing on the cake,” Dana said. Michelle raised her glass in a toast. “Exactly.””

“Like⟳ the stations on Birmingham's Camp Hill line, Darlaston and Willenhall are arriving later than expected. But for those living in the area they're certainly worth the wait⟳. And if a service to Walsall can be funded, that will be the icing on the cake for two areas that have⟳ been without a railway station for more than 50 years.”

CEFR level