breakfast
Americannoun
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breakfasts
plural
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the first meal of the day; morning meal.
A hearty breakfast was served at 7 a.m.
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the food eaten at the first meal of the day.
a breakfast of bacon and eggs.
verb (used without object)
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breakfasts,
present (3rd person singular)
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breakfasted,
past participle, past
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breakfasting
present participle
verb (used with object)
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breakfasts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
breakfasted,
past participle, past
-
breakfasting
present participle
noun
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-
the first meal of the day
-
( as modifier )
breakfast cereal
a breakfast room
-
-
the food at this meal
-
(in the Caribbean) a midday meal
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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breakfastsimple
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breakfastssimple
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have breakfastedperfect
-
has breakfastedperfect
-
am breakfastingprogressive
-
are breakfastingprogressive
-
is breakfastingprogressive
-
have been breakfastingperfect progressive
-
has been breakfastingperfect progressive
Past
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breakfastedsimple
-
had breakfastedperfect
-
was breakfastingprogressive
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were breakfastingprogressive
-
had been breakfastingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of breakfast
First recorded in 1425–75, breakfast is from the late Middle English word brekfast. See break, fast 2
Explanation
Breakfast is the first meal of the day, usually eaten in the morning. Eating a healthy breakfast may give you a boost of energy to start your day. The word breakfast comes from the idea of "breaking the fast" after a night of sleeping. A fast is a period of not eating. During sleep, the body goes without food for hours, so when you eat breakfast, you stop fasting and start eating again, restoring energy for the day ahead. Breakfast foods vary widely depending on culture and personal preference. Eggs, cereal, toast, pancakes, and fruit are commonly eaten for breakfast in some places. In other places, soup, salad, fish, and rice are preferred.
Vocabulary lists containing breakfast
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:
As a young numbat scoffs his breakfast – custard with "termite sprinkles" – at Perth Zoo, a keeper explains how this stud's upcoming release at Dryandra will help boost genetic diversity.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
I Am Trusting was apparently roasted veggie hash, I Am Hearty was a tofu scramble and I Am Valued was a chorizo breakfast burrito.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
The harvest of barley, oats and rapeseed, which are used in beer, breakfast cereals and vegetable oil, is estimated to drop to just 19.5 million tonnes, the worst since records began in 1984.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
The fire broke out on Sunday as passengers were eating breakfast, survivor Muhammad Abdul Karim told reporters in Surabaya after he disembarked from a rescue vessel.
From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026
As I stepped into the kitchen, I saw that Mama, Papa, and Daisy had just seated themselves at the breakfast table.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
Customers ordered full English breakfasts and Guinnesses and sang national anthems.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
The visitor levy, which comes into effect on Friday, will see those staying overnight in hotels, bed and breakfasts and self-catering accommodation, charged an additional 5% on top of their original booking cost.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Greenspan’s reluctance to cut interest rates more aggressively after the 1990-91 recession led to an especially icy relationship with Treasury Secretary Nick Brady, who canceled their golf dates at Augusta National and weekly breakfasts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
These aren’t difficult or unpalatable breakfasts, but simply different — and nutritious — ones.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 21, 2026
‘I could now eat three breakfasts on end.’
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
These genes were much more active when the men had fasted before exercise than when they had breakfasted.
From New York Times ● Apr. 26, 2017
Mitt Romney in 2012 famously declared in Mississippi that he'd just breakfasted on "a biscuit and some cheesy grits" — drawing groans from a crowd who knew he meant cheese grits.
From US News ● Feb. 19, 2016
The well-heeled passengers breakfasted on smoked salmon and pastries, then boarded an air-conditioned Cuban government bus for a day of touring the city.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 7, 2015
One day in May, Rigault breakfasted on Chateaubriand aux truffes; a few days later, the fare included bottles of Pommard, Veuve Clicquot, and Nuits-Saint-Georges.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 15, 2014
He had risen early, breakfasted almost alone, and had spent the morning going over the notes of the case that was recalling him to London.
From "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie
An apocryphal story has George Washington breakfasting with Thomas Jefferson and referring to the Senate as a saucer intended to cool the passions of the intemperate lower chamber.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2025
A study published last week in “Communications Engineering” details a breakthrough in egg science that, if widely adopted, could alter the course of human breakfasting forever.
From Salon ● Feb. 11, 2025
Clients include breakfasting Qataris, construction and security guards off overnight shifts and, this week, tourists in soccer jerseys descending on the country, where foreigners, mostly migrant workers, form the bulk of the 3 million population.
From Reuters ● Nov. 24, 2022
In the future, you could be breakfasting on false banana or snacking on pandanus tree fruit.
From BBC ● May 21, 2022
The disorder left by the breakfasting bears had been cleared away.
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
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.
