cake
Americannoun
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a sweet, baked, breadlike food, made with or without shortening, and usually containing flour, sugar, baking powder or soda, eggs, and liquid flavoring.
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a flat, thin mass of bread, especially unleavened bread.
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a shaped or molded mass of other food.
a fish cake.
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a shaped or compressed mass.
a cake of soap; a cake of ice.
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Animal Husbandry. a compacted block of soybeans, cottonseeds, or linseeds from which the oil has been pressed, usually used as a feed or feed supplement for cattle.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
idioms
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take the cake,
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to surpass all others, especially in some undesirable quality; be extraordinary or unusual.
His arrogance takes the cake.
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to win first prize.
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a piece of cake, something easily done.
She thought her first solo flight was a piece of cake.
noun
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a baked food, usually in loaf or layer form, typically made from a mixture of flour, sugar, and eggs
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a flat thin mass of bread, esp unleavened bread
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a shaped mass of dough or other food of similar consistency
a fish cake
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a mass, slab, or crust of a solidified or compressed substance, as of soap or ice
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to enjoy both of two desirable but incompatible alternatives
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informal to be sold very quickly or in large quantities
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informal something that is easily achieved or obtained
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informal to surpass all others, esp in stupidity, folly, etc
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informal the whole or total of something that is to be shared or divided
the miners are demanding a larger slice of the cake
that is a fair method of sharing the cake
verb
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(tr) to cover with a hard layer; encrust
the hull was caked with salt
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to form or be formed into a hardened mass
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cakesimple
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cakessimple
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have cakedperfect
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has cakedperfect
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am cakingprogressive
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are cakingprogressive
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is cakingprogressive
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have been cakingperfect progressive
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has been cakingperfect progressive
Past
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cakedsimple
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had cakedperfect
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was cakingprogressive
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were cakingprogressive
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had been cakingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cake
1200–50; Middle English < Old Norse kaka; akin to Middle English kechel little cake, German Kuchen; see cookie
Explanation
A cake is a baked dessert that's often topped with frosting or decorations. For many people, it's not a proper birthday without a birthday cake. Most cakes are made with flour, fat, a sweetener, and something to make the cake rise — like eggs or baking powder. You might prefer denser, richer cheesecakes or tiny, delicate cupcakes, or even a savory version made of potatoes and vegetables. If someone says, "Well, that takes the cake," they're expressing their surprise at something, and if you say, "That exam was a piece of cake," it as easy as eating a piece of cake.
Vocabulary lists containing cake
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.
See Examples For:
She rounded up some of his classmates, and bought a cake to celebrate his return.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
In the financial economy, leverage is high with a layer cake of debt at the investor, fund, instrument and underlying investment level.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
The company updated the brand’s logo and packaging, launched a new marketing campaign targeting millennials and Gen Z consumers and rolled out $1 packs of key donut and cake products.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
If she finds a cafe or bakery along the way she likes the look of, she'll try their coffee or cake and make a video about it.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
I asked a group of men gathered around the cake table as I set down the pot.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Around her are patio tables displaying the kind of food the shop carried: pies and cakes, what appear to be stuffed tomatoes, baguettes, sophisticated deli salads, gorgeous hunks of cheese.
From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026
Selling like hot cakes — Taylor Swift’s wedding trash.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026
A chef serving up afternoon teas for some of Wimbledon's Centre Court and No.1 Court guests has defended his decision to put Welsh cakes on the menu instead of classic favourite, the scone.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
Her husband can’t hold a job, so she starts baking cakes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
Hanako could not believe their luck to find this woman in a starving country selling these beautiful cakes.
From "A Place to Belong" by Cynthia Kadohata
A frame outside the auditorium door displays five photos of the Mayer’s dilapidated conditions in the ’90s, with the theater caked in rust and mold, a shell of the version I’m standing in now.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2025
When discovered by a police officer with a metal detector on a cold November morning last year, the iPad was found caked in mud having been underwater for more than five years.
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2025
The remains of burned homes and vehicles along the scenic coastal stretch were caked in a layer of sludge.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2025
Cobblestone streets and mom-and-pop stores speckle the downtown of this city of 18,000 that is caked in red clay soil and nestled among rolling hills.
From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2024
But even when her nightmares seemed so real—down to the scratchy carpet of their apartment that would always be caked with dust—they were nothing more than flimsy images shot through with fear.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
"It was just a horrible feeling to walk in the middle of nowhere," she said with sand caking her clothes, adding that she feared for her unborn baby after her ordeal in the desert.
From Reuters ● Aug. 8, 2023
The rain and fish goo caking my shoes has already begun to harden.
From National Geographic ● Jul. 17, 2023
It’s figurative, embedded in the characters and the storyline, but also literal, with dirt and rot caking everything.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 23, 2023
The small green creatures, less than an inch long, are caking patio furniture with silk and even getting inside people’s homes.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 8, 2022
I feel jagged streaks of mud caking onto my face.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
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.
