easy as pie
Meaning
Extremely easy; requiring little effort or skill.
Origin
Recorded in American English from the early 1900s. It likens a task’s ease to eating a sweet pie—pleasant and effortless—rather than to making one.
Notes
Informal and upbeat. Implies something is almost effortless. Common in conversation; be careful not to sound dismissive of others’ difficulty.
Examples
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Once you learn the basics, editing this video is easy as pie.
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The new coffee machine is easy as pie to use—just press this button.
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After a few practice rounds, the game felt easy as pie.
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She made the recipe sound easy as pie, but it took me all afternoon.
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With GPS guiding us, finding the cabin was easy as pie.
Grammar & Usage Notes
Usually used after a linking verb: “It’s as easy as pie.” Often appears as “That was as easy as pie.” Can modify a noun phrase: “an as-easy-as-pie solution” (hyphenated).
Synonyms
- a piece of cake
- easy as abc
- simple
- effortless
- straightforward
Antonyms
- difficult
- hard
- complicated
- challenging
- no easy task