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
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
The movie is called “Yes” but it’s not the kind of yes that comes after someone offers you another cupcake.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2026
The sensory mismatch — a coconut-flavored “potato” — is a little kid’s dream, like the Jelly Belly “Bean Boozled” pack or a cupcake that looks like a hamburger.
From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2026
Like, maybe a chocolate peanut butter cupcake with Cocoa Pebbles in the batter, so when you bit into the finished cupcake, you’d get crunchy bits.
From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks
Getting the color and appearance right for the icing on cupcakes alone required a nearly thirtyfold increase in natural ingredients.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
An annual dating wrapped party, where dozens of friends gather to see her yearly stats and snack on cupcakes adorned with cutouts of her exes’ faces.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Café do Capa sells capybara-shaped fried foods, capybara-themed cupcakes, capybara gifts.
From Slate ● May 27, 2026
She said they recreated the feeling of a department store with balloons and a table laid out with goodie bags, sweets, toys and cupcakes.
From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2026
“I know you’re sad you couldn’t bring your cupcakes today, but why don’t you get Marcus something from the vending machine?”
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.
