Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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noun
A contest in which cake was offered for the best dancers.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The style of music associated with such a contest.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The dance, or strutting style of dance, associated with such a contest.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Qualifier: performing arts
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Something that is easy or simple, or that does not present a great challenge.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: idiomatic, informal
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: bagatelle, waltz, breeze, cake and gingerbread, cakewalk, child's play, cinch, doddle, doss, duck soup, easy pickings, gimme, layup, low-hanging fruit, no-brainer, open and shut case, picnic, piece of cake, piece of piss, plain sailing, plane sailing, slam dunk, snap, walk in the park, walkover
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To perform the cakewalk dance.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
an easy accomplishment
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: accomplishment, achievement
noun
a strutting dance based on a march; was performed in minstrel shows; originated as a competition among Black dancers to win a cake
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: stage dancing, choreography
verb
perform the cakewalk dance
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: dance, trip the light fantastic, trip the light fantastic toe
History
From cake + walk. Originally an African-American form of dance and music that developed after the Civil War, later popularised by minstrel shows. It was danced at social events, with the best dancers often receiving cake as a prize. It derives from dance competitions by plantation slaves in which the style of dance lampooned the ballroom dances of the slaveowners. Slaveowners seem to have found the competitions entertaining and the habit of offering cake may originate from this period. The name is sometimes also applied to the dance's precursor on the plantations. Doing the cakewalk well required virtuosity, and a major aesthetic aspect of that virtuosity was the apparent ease with which the dance was performed. This gave rise to the idiom as easy as a cakewalk, which in turn led to the sense of cakewalk as something that is easy. See the linked Wikipedia article for more.
Across languages
9 source translations are retained for this English entry.
