cakewalk

noun

cake·​walk ˈkāk-ˌwȯk 

1

a

: a one-sided contest : an easy victory

In states and localities across America, good times are making for reelection cakewalks.

—Douglas Foster

b

: an easy task

… it's no cakewalk to raise a family on two part-time salaries, even for a little while.

—Belinda Luscombe

2

: an African American entertainment having a cake as prize for the most accomplished steps and figures in walking

3

: a stage dance developed from walking steps and figures typically involving a high prance with backward tilt

cakewalk intransitive verb

cakewalker noun

Synonyms

• breeze
• picnic
• cake

Examples of cakewalk in a Sentence

She expected the election to be a cakewalk.

Reducing the state budget is not going to be a cakewalk.

Recent Examples on the Web

The Ducks have just two more trips outside the Pacific time zone to Rutgers and Iowa, neither of which will be cakewalks. —Erick Smith, USA Today, 13 Oct. 2025

While the true number of militia members is far less than the 4.5 million figure cited by Maduro, the existence of a highly ideological network of armed supporters should serve as a warning for anyone who believes military intervention will be a cakewalk. —Morgan Chalfant, semafor.com, 10 Oct. 2025

In this dark fantasy novella, the grieving father descends into Tartarus to try and reunite with Icarus, only to find that King Minos’ labyrinth was a cakewalk compared to the infinite stretches of Hell that can never be mapped nor designed without making its inhabitants go mad. —Natalie Zutter september 2, Literary Hub, 2 Sep. 2025

But compared to what the Patriots’ defense endured, that was a cakewalk. —Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 15 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1863, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for cakewalk

• aftershock
• antiknock
• arawak
• hollyhock
• interlock
• isopach
• manioc
• shuttlecock
• tomahawk
• weathercock
• alcock
• beanstalk