cupcake
Americannoun
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cupcakes
plural
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a small cake, the size of an individual portion, baked in a cup-shaped mold.
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Older Slang.
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a sexually attractive young woman.
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a beloved girl or woman.
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noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cupcake
Explanation
A cupcake is a small, sweet baked good topped with frosting. You might bake cupcakes for your best friend's birthday. When you make cupcakes, you mix up cake batter and instead of baking it in large pans, pour it into the small, paper-lined indentations in a cupcake or muffin pan. Some people prefer cupcakes to cakes, because they're the perfect serving size. In Britain and Australia, cupcakes are called "fairy cakes." Cupcake is an American English word dating from the 19th century.
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:
Mary Herron, 21, who is leaving a boutique cupcake shop with two friends, has noticed a difference in attitudes amongst her contemporaries.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
It’s a hard twist to reconcile in a funky sport with old-world attributes, like the referee mysteriously keeping track of the remaining time like a secret cupcake in his pocket.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
His obsession with late-night television is almost endearing, like a child who bursts into tears on their birthday because someone smooshed a cupcake into their cheek.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026
“Freeze in ice cube trays or silicone cupcake trays, bag, and label. You will never buy bouillon again.”
From Salon ● May 30, 2026
The cupcake was missing, along with the chocolate-covered cherry.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
Hostess donuts and cupcakes, it turned out, are surprisingly unlike Smucker jams, peanut butter and coffee.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Café do Capa sells capybara-shaped fried foods, capybara-themed cupcakes, capybara gifts.
From Slate ● May 27, 2026
"Unlike muffins, cupcakes, or biscuits, cakes are designed to be sliced and shared," she says.
From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2026
Many offered heartfelt responses, her comments flooded with stories, for example, of poor college students making the trek to the Beverly Hills location for a limited number of first-come, first-served free cupcakes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2026
“Everyone wants cupcakes for their Independence Day barbecues.”
From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks
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.
