bread
Americannoun
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breads
plural
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a kind of food made of flour or meal that has been mixed with milk or water, made into a dough or batter, with or without yeast or other leavening agent, and baked.
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food or sustenance; livelihood.
to earn one's bread.
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Slang. money.
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Ecclesiastical. the wafer or bread used in a Eucharistic service.
verb (used with object)
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breads,
present (3rd person singular)
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breaded,
past participle, past
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breading
present participle
idioms
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know which side one's bread is buttered on, to be aware of those things that are to one's own advantage.
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take the bread out of someone's mouth, to deprive someone of livelihood.
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cast one's bread upon the waters, to act generously or charitably with no thought of personal gain.
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break bread,
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to eat a meal, especially in companionable association with others.
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to distribute or participate in Communion.
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noun
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a food made from a dough of flour or meal mixed with water or milk, usually raised with yeast or baking powder and then baked
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necessary food; nourishment
give us our daily bread
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a slang word for money
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Christianity a small loaf, piece of bread, or wafer of unleavened bread used in the Eucharist
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something offered as a means of distracting attention from a problem or grievance
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See break
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to do good without expectation of advantage or return
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to know what to do in order to keep one's advantages
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to deprive someone of a livelihood
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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breadsimple
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breadssimple
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have breadedperfect
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has breadedperfect
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am breadingprogressive
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are breadingprogressive
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is breadingprogressive
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have been breadingperfect progressive
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has been breadingperfect progressive
Past
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breadedsimple
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had breadedperfect
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was breadingprogressive
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were breadingprogressive
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had been breadingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bread
before 950; 1950–55 bread for def. 3; Middle English breed, Old English brēad fragment, morsel, bread; cognate with German Brot
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:
Even when the tomatoes are gone and the bread stall is picked clean, you can usually find some jar of something sharp, spicy and brined: giardiniera, hot peppers, spicy dills, pickled carrots.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
Bailey Kreinbrink, 28, a content creator in Atlanta, said she lost 50 pounds in a year while eating bread, pasta and pizza in Italy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
Back in New Jersey, dinnertime with his biological family feels as cold and stale as their meal of frozen peas and store-bought white bread.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Those ingredients are used to bake and package the bread, which is taken to warehouses before eventually ending up on supermarket shelves.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
In another building I received a day’s bread ration and food coupons for three additional days.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
For this sandwich, I wanted ciabatta because it is perhaps the most pillowy of the sturdy breads.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
"You will see fast food, Indian breads and curries, desserts, and whatever else people have been sending," said Kaanita, a 21-year-old student.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Among the healthier options are whole-grain breads, some soy and almond milks and some plant-based meat alternatives, said Maya Vadiveloo, associate professor of nutrition at the University of Rhode Island.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026
The values recorded in sunflower flour breads were much higher than those seen in bread made entirely from wheat flour.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 8, 2026
Bones, breads, bottles, and bowls lay scattered everywhere, as if voracious giants had gathered to dine.
From "Crispin: The Cross of Lead" by Avi
Several Argentine restaurants proudly serve the milanesa - an Argentine dish of breaded beef or chicken which is thought to be one of Messi's favourites.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
Not to mention Parmo, a fat-laden breaded chicken dish that is a local specialty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 25, 2026
Further, the amount of Cs-137 detected in the one batch of breaded shrimp was really quite low.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2025
During busy, difficult periods of my life, I used to order something called a buffalo chicken roller, a log of breaded, extruded ground chicken in a menacing shade of red.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2024
We send them to factories and press them into breaded sticks and patties.
From "The Thing About Jellyfish" by Ali Benjamin
Many all-you-can-eat menus lead with heavy, low-cost carbohydrates like pasta or thick breading to trigger fullness before you’ve reached the break-even point on higher-cost proteins.
From MarketWatch ● May 14, 2026
When not working shifts at Echo Park vegetarian restaurant Elf Cafe, Kopushyan toiled in his home kitchen with spice blends for four and a half months, obsessively tinkering with breading, seasoning and frying.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2025
She advises breading and frying before dipping into a tartar sauce or marinara.
From Salon ● May 21, 2025
"I was half way through breading fish for tea, it ran through the three bowls which I had to throw away," Donna said.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2025
She finishes breading the final croquette, then glances at her wristwatch.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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.
