Definition

1. Noun:
   • A small, ring-shaped cake, typically fried and often sweetened or glazed: A "donut" is a popular baked or fried dough confection, characterized by its distinctive ring shape with a hole in the center, though it can also be filled. It is often topped with icing, sugar, sprinkles, or other sweet coatings.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • I bought a chocolate-glazed donut for breakfast.
  • The office provides a box of assorted donuts every Friday morning.
  • She prefers jelly-filled donuts over the ring-shaped ones.

Advanced Usage

• "Donut hole": This term can refer literally to the missing center piece of a ring donut, or to a separate, small spherical piece of fried dough.
  • The bakery sells the dough from the center as "donut holes".
• Metaphorical use for shape: The word "donut" is sometimes used informally to describe any object or formation with a similar ring shape.
  • The crowd formed a donut around the performers.

Variants and Related Words

• Doughnut: (noun) This is the traditional and more formal spelling of the word "donut". The meanings are identical.
  • "Doughnut" is the spelling used in most dictionaries.
• Donut shop: (noun phrase) A store that specializes in selling donuts and often coffee.
  • Let's stop at the donut shop on the corner.

Synonyms

• Fried cake: A more general descriptive term.
• Sinker: (informal, North American slang) A heavy, dense donut.

Related Phrases

• "To dunk a donut": To dip a donut into a beverage, like coffee or milk, before eating it.
  • He always dunks his donut in his coffee.

Related Idioms

• "As American as apple pie" (extended variant): Donuts are also considered a classic American food item and are sometimes referenced in similar cultural idioms about quintessential Americana.
  • (Implied) The local donut shop is as much a part of the town as the old courthouse.

Noun

1. a small ring-shaped friedcake