FreeScrabbleDictionary

cakewalk

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
21
Words With Friends
23
Letters
8
Pronunciation
/ˈkeɪk.wɔk/(US)

Definition of cakewalk

5 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. (historical)A contest in which cake was offered for the best dancers.
See all 5 definitions

noun

  1. (historical)A contest in which cake was offered for the best dancers.
  2. The style of music associated with such a contest.
  3. The dance, or strutting style of dance, associated with such a contest.
  4. (idiomatic, informal)Something that is easy or simple, or that does not present a great challenge.
    “Just as common as she is, a cakewalk sort of a name.”
    “Nah. The first step’s a cakewalk. We can beat the hell out of a developing infant, in any case.”

verb

  1. (intransitive)To perform the cakewalk dance.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

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…

See full etymology

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.

Words you can make from cakewalk

54 playable · top: WACKE (14 pts)

Best play wacke 14 points

5-letter words

3 words

4-letter words

22 words

3-letter words

19 words

2-letter words

9 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

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