breadline
Britishnoun
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a queue of people waiting for free food given out by a government agency or a charity organization
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impoverished; living at subsistence level
Vocabulary lists containing breadline
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.
Yip Harburg and Jay Gorney conceived “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” for the breadline scene in the 1932 revue “Americana,” where it was sung by Rex Weber.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
Meanwhile, figures from End Child Poverty show that approximately one in three children in the county are living below the breadline.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2025
Myles and Creevy play a successful business owner and her new "down on her luck" cleaner who is living on the breadline, Barry said.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2025
When the tour’s over, I’m back on the breadline, honey.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2024
The urban poor keep out of the breadline by money.
From Rural Problems of Today by Ernest R. (Ernest Rutherford) Groves
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.
