pie
1 Americannoun
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a baked food having a filling of fruit, meat, pudding, etc., prepared in a pastry-lined pan or dish and often topped with a pastry crust.
apple pie; meat pie.
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a layer cake with a filling of custard, cream jelly, or the like.
chocolate cream pie.
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a total or whole that can be divided.
They want a bigger part of the profit pie.
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an activity or affair.
He has his finger in the political pie too.
idioms
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pie in the sky,
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the illusory prospect of future benefits.
Political promises are often pie in the sky.
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a state of perfect happiness; utopia.
to promise pie in the sky.
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easy as pie, extremely easy or simple.
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nice as pie, extremely well-behaved, agreeable, or the like.
The children were nice as pie.
noun
noun
noun
noun
abbreviation
noun
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a baked food consisting of a sweet or savoury filling in a pastry-lined dish, often covered with a pastry crust
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to have an interest in or take part in some activity
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to meddle or interfere
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illusory hope or promise of some future good; false optimism
noun
noun
noun
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
- pielike adjective
Etymology
Origin of pie1
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English pi(e), pey; of obscure origin
Origin of pie2
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English pi(e), peie, from Old French, from Latin pīca, akin to pīcus “woodpecker”
Origin of pie4
First recorded in 1470–80; translation of Latin pīca “magpie”; (the allusion is obscure); cf. pica 1, pie 2
Origin of pie5
First recorded in 1855–60; from Hindi pāī “quarter, fourth part,” from Sanskrit pādikā; cf. pada ( def. ); see also pice ( def. )
Explanation
A pie is a baked dessert with a pastry crust. If your favorite kind of pie is apple, you might order it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Most pie is sweet, but there are also meat and vegetable pies, often called "pot pies." Like dessert pies, these savory dishes are often topped with pastry. Other pies have a bottom crust and an open top, while some have both a top and bottom pastry crust. If something is described as "easy as pie," it's very easy — though it's arguable whether it's really all that easy to make a pie.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Twenty-five cents bought a cup of coffee, a piece of pie and one of the thin, crispy hamburgers that would make Pennington a legend in Northern California.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026
To put it into perspective, for that amount you could buy a pie and a pint at a game 300 million times over.
From BBC • Apr. 5, 2026
One of these signs is that the earnings split between workers and corporations has shifted a lot lately—corporations are getting a much bigger share of the gross-domestic-income pie, and workers, a meaningfully smaller one.
From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026
“The pie gets smaller and more people are fighting for the pie,” said Judy Chan, the wine producer.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026
Then she closed her eyes and began waving both hands over the pie.
From "Case of the Sneaky Snowman: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #5" by Carolyn Keene
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
