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:
If you’ve ever read anything by biographer Robert Caro, you get the feeling that he could wring 100 pages out of what he had for breakfast.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026
In the late 1890s, John Harvey Kellogg, the director of a Seventh-day Adventist sanitarium in Battle Creek, Mich., wanted a vegetarian breakfast alternative to the bacon and eggs his clients were accustomed to.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
At breakfast, Collins is wearing a patterned turquoise jacket over a matching dress and high-heeled black leather boots.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
Soybean oil appears in salad dressings, mayonnaise, baked goods, infant formula, snacks and fried foods; soy lecithin emulsifies chocolate and bread; and soy protein fortifies energy bars, breakfast cereals and canned soup.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
‘Come on. Let’s go back to bed till it’s time to get up for breakfast.’
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
The feds operate more than a dozen food assistance programs, which provide grocery money for new parents and their toddlers, as well as free school breakfasts and lunches for lower-income children.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Almost as soon as I had a kitchen of my own, I started making stupidly elaborate breakfasts for overnight guests and baking for community fundraisers.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
Those staying in hotels, self-catering apartments, holiday lets such as AirBnbs, aparthotels, bed and breakfasts, guest houses and hostels are all eligible.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Even as cases of cyclosporiasis rise in the U.S., you don’t have to avoid berry breakfasts and Caesar salads.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
You had to be downstairs on time and in your place, but Grandmas breakfasts were worth it.
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
He enjoyed a privileged childhood: in a 2014 column for the Nikkei Shimbun newspaper, he recounted how his elementary school classmates had teased him when he revealed that he breakfasted with his family’s “maidservant.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2023
In the morning, congratulating myself on not having used the emergency phone, I breakfasted on cloudberry doughnuts and homemade dried reindeer.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 22, 2019
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
As the next day was Saturday, most students would normally have breakfasted late.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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
Bonus: This quirk makes stollen the ideal make-ahead treat for all your holiday gifting, breakfasting, and last-minute company needs.
From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2021
Wipe with vinegar: Prep the kitchen and pantry for early breakfasting and quick lunch packing.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 9, 2021
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.
