breadwinner
Americannoun
-
breadwinners
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of breadwinner
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.
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In Illinois, a college senior found himself the sole breadwinner of his family after ICE arrested and detained his uncle.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026
Here’s the short version: Tradwives promote a traditional model of family life, prioritizing being a homemaker and a primary caregiver and supporting their husbands’ role as the primary breadwinner.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026
Like many of the workers arrested, he was the primary breadwinner for his family.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026
At 35 years old, Zhou was paying off his mortgage and had been his family’s primary breadwinner, according to his lawyer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
Mom continued to be the breadwinner, working in the factory while my dad recuperated from his injuries.
From "How Dare the Sun Rise" by Sandra Uwiringiyimana
Men in this generation may also have experienced financial strain differently because they were more likely to have been the primary breadwinners in this cohort born in 1946.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 2, 2026
The welfare system attempted to replace family breadwinners, but it turned out that those breadwinners were providing more than money.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026
Many were - and still are - the main breadwinners in their families.
From BBC ● Feb. 1, 2026
The result: Most breadwinners still have jobs, and they are still spending.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 10, 2026
The tragic faces one meets with are of the women breadwinners whose burdens are overwhelming and of the children in whom physical fatigue arrests development and all possibility of pleasure.
From The Woman Who Toils Being the Experiences of Two Gentlewomen as Factory Girls by Marie Van Vorst
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.
