breadcrumb
Americannoun
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a crumb of bread, either dried or soft.
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Also called breadcrumb trail. Digital Technology. Usually breadcrumbs. a sequence of text links on the current page of a website or web-based application, usually at the top, showing the page's location within a hierarchy of content or browsing history and providing a convenient navigational tool.
Online shoppers can use breadcrumbs to see other products in the same category.
noun
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the soft inner part of bread
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(plural) bread crumbled into small fragments, as for use in cooking
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of breadcrumb
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.
See Examples For:
Millions of onlookers are attached to their screens, united in their desperation for any new breadcrumb in the case.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026
This, despite getting nothing from her subject save for breadcrumb trails that went cold, leads that dissolved into thin air.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2024
Each of these edits leaves a unique digital breadcrumb trail and Stamm's lab has developed a suite of tools calibrated to find and follow them.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2024
From that point, you follow neat little winding trails threading through imposing trees, a breadcrumb trail out of a fairy tale, until you come to a clearing opening out to the labyrinth itself.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 4, 2024
Ged shot breadcrumb arrows after the owls and brought them down, and when they touched the ground there they lay, bone and crumb, all illusion gone.
From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin
“We follow the trail of breadcrumbs as far as we can, and then try to bring them to life with empathy and compassion.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
But let’s be clear about what it represents: breadcrumbs.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
My favorite was the spicy lobster spaghetti, tossed in chili tomato sauce and topped with bottarga and breadcrumbs for texture.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026
Times 101 lists through the years and specialized in a sort of “no shortcuts” pre-World War II philosophy, with everything made from scratch, including its breadcrumbs and crackers.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2026
They would bring breadcrumbs, and they would cross through the line of trees to see what awaited them.
From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu
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.
