doughnut

noun

dough·​nut ˈdō-(ˌ)nət 

variants or less commonly donut

1

: a small usually ring-shaped piece of sweet fried dough

2

: something (such as a mathematical torus) that has a round shape like a doughnut

3

: a controlled skid that sends an automobile into a tight circle of at least 360 degrees

—usually used in the phrase do doughnuts

Doing doughnuts? You haven't heard about this? This is what they steal the cars for. Top speed, they slam on the brakes, yank the emergency brake, twist the steering wheel, and the car starts spinning. Wheeling the car in circles at tremendous speeds.

—Philip Roth

doughnutlike

ˈdō-(ˌ)nət-ˌlīk 

adjective

Examples of doughnut in a Sentence

drawing doughnuts in the sand

Recent Examples on the Web

The slate reached from Doechii to Katseye to Mitski, not to mention her old doughnut-shop friend Chappell Roan. — Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 17 Sep. 2026

Chocolate Peanut-Butter Baked Doughnuts These no-fry doughnuts are super chocolatey—a perfect match for your morning joe. — Ginger Crichton, Midwest Living, 16 Sep. 2026

The doughnut racks sit beneath a stack of bibles and printouts of various biblical verses, with religious radio setting a soundtrack. — Sean Carlson, Travel + Leisure, 15 Sep. 2026

But that gas could come in the form of the doughnut, or as puffy clouds that fill in patches of the black hole’s sky, as opposed to the shell of gas around a black hole star. — Quanta Magazine, 14 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

dough + nut entry 1 (in sense "rounded cake or biscuit," as in ginger nut, spice nut)

First Known Use

1782, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing doughnut

• doughnut hole

Rhymes for doughnut

• abut
• catgut
• chesnut
• chestnut
• donut
• groundnut
• haircut
• hindgut
• midgut
• precut
• rebut
• recut

Kids Definition

doughnut

noun

dough·​nut

variants also donut

-(ˌ)nət

1

: a small ring of sweet dough fried in fat

2

: something resembling a doughnut especially in shape