Home US English cakewalk

Definition of cakewalk in English:

cakewalk

Pronunciation /ˈkākˌwôk/ /ˈkeɪkˌwɔk/

Translate cakewalk into Spanish

noun

  • 1informal An absurdly or surprisingly easy task.

    • ‘winning the game won't be a cakewalk’
    • ‘I don't think anybody knows how long it would take, and I don't think anybody should go on the impression that it's going to be easy or a cakewalk or whatever those phrases are that people use.’
    • ‘The fact that the guard was a thin man considerably shorter than Walker made the task seem like a cakewalk.’
    • ‘‘To get established was not easy, it was not a cakewalk for me,’ she admits.’
    • ‘It annoys us a bit that some people assumed that after beating Cork this would be a bit of a cakewalk for us, that we'd go up there and beat them well.’
    • ‘I don't think it's going to be a cakewalk for us to stay there.’
    • ‘But that does not mean that Roberts’ trip to the high bench will be a cakewalk, nor should it be.’
    • ‘It was not exactly a cakewalk for the actresses either: ‘There is a lot of Urdu used in the film and we had to work on our diction as well as dance for the songs.’’
    • ‘It's the psychological condition that allowed them and their followers to convince themselves that invading and occupying a large but dysfunctional country would be a cakewalk.’
    • ‘But fortunately, for even the most dunderheaded of theatre-goers - your reviewer included - acting in this play should prove a cakewalk.’
    • ‘And so has this story, this investigation, this scandal, changed the election from what was a cakewalk into now possibly a defeat for the prime minister?’
    • ‘Today the soon-to-be Senate majority leader suggested things won't necessarily be a cakewalk for his own party in the new Senate.’
    • ‘‘I knew from day one of joining the four-month course that passing the exam would be a cakewalk,’ he says, with a twinkle in his eyes.’
    • ‘Pardon the mixed metaphor, but as those of us who rode the roller coaster from start to finish know, this isn't, alas, a team that's mastered the art of the cakewalk.’
    • ‘For his city-dwelling clients, the climb isn't such a cakewalk.’
    • ‘As tough as it may be to get hired in political science, it's a cakewalk compared to getting a position in, say, English departments.’
    • ‘My Spanish exam was a cakewalk, I finished in about 20 minutes.’
    • ‘From here on, international tournaments will not be American All-Star cakewalks.’
    • ‘Although I suspect the match will be a cakewalk, we are going to take it very seriously.’
    • ‘Let's just get this part over with, then the rest will be a cakewalk.’
    • ‘The First Amendment, we should recall, would be a cakewalk if people expressed themselves within prescribed boundaries of acceptable speech.’
    easy task, easy job, child's play, five-finger exercise, gift, walkover, nothing, sinecure, gravy train

  • 2historical A dancing contest among African Americans in which a cake was awarded as a prize.

    ‘I learned that the cakewalk, a highstepping dance, began on Southern plantations in the 1840s.’
    • ‘It arose in the slavery period as an accompaniment to plantation dances like the cakewalk.’
    • ‘Linked to West African dance forms, the joyous strutting of the cakewalks implied that the plantation was a sunny home with happy slaves; beneath that facade, however, the dance actually mocked the slave owners.’
    • ‘As a cultural form, the cakewalk originated on the antebellum plantation as a key vehicle of black resistance against enslavement.’
    1. 2.1A strutting dance popularized by minstrel shows in the late 19th century.
      ‘Her dance revue, Le Jazz Hot, included vernacular forms like the shimmy, black bottom, shorty george and the cakewalk.’
      • ‘Starting with footage shot by Thomas Edison (yes, the Thomas Edison), this magnificent compilation takes us from dances like the cakewalk to the jitterbug.’
      • ‘Dream ballets and integrated dance numbers replaced flashy kick lines, and for a while, it looked as if tap would go the way of the cakewalk and the waltz, pretty much disappearing from our musical theater.’
      • ‘New to audiences might be the fact that the lindy hop, along with the Charleston, cakewalk, minstrel blues and boogie-woogie, was not originally called swing, but rather jazz.’

intransitive verb

[no object]

  • 1informal Achieve or win something easily.

    • ‘he cakewalked to a 5-1 triumph’
    • ‘‘I wouldn't want to be cakewalking through games and then get to the playoffs and not have this kind of experience, ‘Donovan said.’’
    • ‘Tell me again why the Liberals are expected to cakewalk through the coming election?’
    • ‘Only a few teams have a chance to prevent Arizona from cakewalking through the rest of the season.’
    • ‘Had they played sensibly they could have cakewalked that game.’
    • ‘Not surprisingly, he cakewalked through the competition, reinforcing his father's belief that his son would also rise through the bodybuilding ranks.’

  • 2Walk or dance in the manner of a cakewalk.

    ‘a troupe of clowns cakewalked by’
    • ‘The whole Virginia Minstrels chorus joins in while cakewalking in line behind Emmett.’
    • ‘As the troupe becomes even more successful, their stage set at the Maxwell Theater features a huge Sambo backdrop through whose grinning mouth the minstrels cakewalk onto the stage.’