have one's cake and eat it too
English
Alternative forms
- eat one's cake and have it too
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb
have one's cake and eat it too (third-person singular simple present has one's cake and eats it too, present participle having one's cake and eating it too, simple past had one's cake and ate it too, past participle had one's cake and eaten it too)
- (idiomatic) To seek to have two things which are mutually incompatible (such as eating a piece of cake and yet still possessing that piece for future use).
- It's not possible to get your savings and keep the piggy bank intact. You can't have your cake and eat it too!
Usage notes
- This expression is usually found in some form of the proverb: One cannot have one's cake and eat it too.
Translations
to seek to have two things which are mutually incompatible
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See also
- best of both worlds
- butter one's bread on both sides
- cakeism
- have it both ways
- judge, jury and executioner
- run with the hare and hunt with the hounds
- suck and blow
Anagrams
- eat one's cake and have it too