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Showing results for cakewalk. Search instead for cakewalked.
Synonyms

cakewalk

American  
[keyk-wawk] / ˈkeɪkˌwɔk /

noun

  1. (formerly) a promenade or march, of Black American origin, in which the couples with the most intricate or eccentric steps received cakes as prizes.

  2. a dance with a strutting step based on this promenade.

  3. music for this dance.

  4. Informal. something easy, sure, or certain.

verb (used without object)

  1. to walk or dance in or as if in a cakewalk.

cakewalk British  
/ ˈkeɪkˌwɔːk /

noun

  1. a dance based on a march with intricate steps, originally performed by African-Americans with the prize of a cake for the best performers

  2. a piece of music composed for this dance

  3. informal an easily accomplished task

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. (intr) to perform the cakewalk

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • cakewalker noun

Etymology

Origin of cakewalk

First recorded in 1860–65; cake + walk

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.

Nonetheless, the U.S. insisted leading up to Thursday that the rematch wouldn’t be a cakewalk.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 19, 2026

Ireland were hanging on by their fingernails, before a second-half rally threatened to turn a cakewalk into a contest.

From Barron's • Feb. 5, 2026

In the last 18 minutes, the visitors scored three unanswered tries - all converted - to turn a cakewalk into a struggle for the Scots, whose edge blunted incredibly in the second half.

From BBC • Mar. 8, 2025

With that sentence over my head, I’m not gonna say that it was a cakewalk, because it wasn’t.

From Slate • Mar. 19, 2024

The rest of the way was a cakewalk.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

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.