a baked food having a filling of fruit, meat, pudding, etc., prepared in a pastry-lined pan or dish and often topped with a pastry crust.
apple pie; meat pie.
a layer cake with a filling of custard, cream jelly, or the like.
chocolate cream pie.
a total or whole that can be divided.
They want a bigger part of the profit pie.
an activity or affair.
He has his finger in the political pie too.
pie in the sky,
the illusory prospect of future benefits.
Political promises are often pie in the sky.
a state of perfect happiness; utopia.
to promise pie in the sky.
easy as pie, extremely easy or simple.
nice as pie, extremely well-behaved, agreeable, or the like.
The children were nice as pie.
a baked food consisting of a sweet or savoury filling in a pastry-lined dish, often covered with a pastry crust
to have an interest in or take part in some activity
to meddle or interfere
illusory hope or promise of some future good; false optimism
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English pi(e), pey; of obscure origin
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English pi(e), peie, from Old French, from Latin pīca, akin to pīcus “woodpecker”
First recorded in 1470–80; translation of Latin pīca “magpie”; (the allusion is obscure); cf. pica 1, pie 2
First recorded in 1855–60; from Hindi pāī “quarter, fourth part,” from Sanskrit pādikā; cf. pada ( def. ); see also pice ( def. )
A pie is a baked dessert with a pastry crust. If your favorite kind of pie is apple, you might order it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Most pie is sweet, but there are also meat and vegetable pies, often called "pot pies." Like dessert pies, these savory dishes are often topped with pastry. Other pies have a bottom crust and an open top, while some have both a top and bottom pastry crust. If something is described as "easy as pie," it's very easy — though it's arguable whether it's really all that easy to make a pie.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Jeff Bezos appears set on taking a slice of Elon Musk’s space pie.
From Barron's • Jun. 9, 2026
I like to start with a frozen cheese pizza and spoon dollops of each sauce over the pie before baking.
From Salon • Jun. 6, 2026
On Reddit, folks recommend making a classic Hawaiian pizza with pineapples and bacon, along with combining goat’s cheese, honey, fresh figs and braesola in a pie.
From Salon • Jun. 6, 2026
At the same time, the economic returns to talent have grown dramatically, one reason that America’s economic pie has been sliced more unevenly.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 31, 2026
Lady Constance was no help either, and offhandedly suggested that the kitchen serve gooseberry pie to the villagers instead of bread and satisfy the people that way.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
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.
