bream
noun
any of various freshwater fishes of the genus Abramis, as A. brama, of Europe, with a compressed, deep body and silvery scales.
bream
1 American
[brim, breem]
/ brɪm, brim /
noun
-
bream,
plural
-
breams
plural
-
any of various freshwater fishes of the genus Abramis, as A. brama, of Europe, with a compressed, deep body and silvery scales.
-
any of various related and similar fishes.
-
any of several porgies, as the sea bream, Archosargus rhomboidalis.
-
any of several freshwater sunfishes of the genus Lepomis.
bream
2
American
[breem]
/ brim /
verb (used with object)
Nautical.
Bream
3
American
[breem]
/ brim /
noun
bream
1
British
/ brɪm, briːm, brɪm /
noun
-
any of several Eurasian freshwater cyprinid fishes of the genus Abramis , esp A. brama , having a deep compressed body covered with silvery scales
-
a similar cyprinid, Blicca bjoerkna
-
short for sea bream
-
any of various marine fishes
Bream
2
British
/ briːm /
noun
bream
3
British
/ briːm /
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bream1
1350–1400; Middle English breme < Anglo-French; Old French bresme, braisme < Old Low Franconian *brahsima; compare Old High German brahsema, Dutch brasem
Origin of bream2
1620–30; < Middle Dutch brem ( e ) furze
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:
He then held up a large sea bream as a symbol of good luck and celebration.
From Barron's ● Nov. 26, 2025
The sea bass and bream are always tasty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
The main course, a whole fried sea bream, served with a ginger fish sauce caramel, peanuts, herbs, lemon, and wild pepper leaves to delicately wrap each fried morsel, truly blew me away.
From Salon ● Sep. 3, 2025
Because all the conventional problems of filmmaking — like flubbed lines and imperfect framing — exist alongside the possibility of dropping a perfectly cooked sea bream, a dish was waiting if another take was needed.
From New York Times ● Feb. 9, 2024
The boatman plied his homemade nets not far from shore and brought in fat bream and tiger fish.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Bream said the Modesto facility, which finishes and manufactures several types of beverage closures, will remain in operation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
Here is some of what that version involves, from an interview two weeks ago by Shannon Bream of “Fox News Sunday” with Megan Romer, national co-chairman of the Democratic Socialists of America.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
On “Fox News Sunday,” anchor Shannon Bream allocated a mere four seconds to the entire event, treating it as a footnote before moving on to interview a Democratic senator.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
The new series will follow Brydon's character Bill Bream who is forced to rent out his spare rooms following his divorce.
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2026
Bream, both of the silver and the carp kinds, are plentiful, running up to 4lb. in weight.
From Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood Historical, Anecdotal, Physiographical, and Archaeological, with Other Matter by James Conway Walter
After a minute marked by tense silence, two breams emerged from the hole.
From National Geographic ● Mar. 16, 2018
Since arriving in the Solomon Islands, we have found biofluorescence in lineages in which it never has been reported before, including breams and flatheads.
From New York Times ● Jul. 6, 2012
Immediately on coming to anchor we began to fish, and got abundance of that kind which the Portuguese call Pergosses, the French saders, and our men salt-water breams.
From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 07 by Robert Kerr
The breams are so careful of their charge that you may stand close by in the water and examine them at your leisure.
From A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers by Henry David Thoreau
At its edge was the flutter of ospreys feasting on the barbels and breams of the Jordan, which as they enter, die.
From Mary Magdalen by Edgar Saltus
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.
