breakfast
Americannoun
-
the first meal of the day; morning meal.
A hearty breakfast was served at 7 a.m.
-
the food eaten at the first meal of the day.
a breakfast of bacon and eggs.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
-
-
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
-
breakfastsimple
-
breakfastssimple
-
have breakfastedperfect
-
has breakfastedperfect
-
am breakfastingprogressive
-
are breakfastingprogressive
-
is breakfastingprogressive
-
have been breakfastingperfect progressive
-
has been breakfastingperfect progressive
Past
-
breakfastedsimple
-
had breakfastedperfect
-
was breakfastingprogressive
-
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:
On my recent rereading of “The Secret Garden,” I was delighted by the moment when Mary, initially pale and peevish and uninterested in her breakfast, begins wandering the grounds with a jump rope in hand.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026
That meant improving service speeds, making stores more welcoming, and punching up the menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
She makes breakfast for her 87-year-old father and then rides her motorbike to her job as a health aide to 22 other elderly people in this poor farming village west of Bangkok.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Francesca says she eats bread with Nutella for breakfast, a chocolate-filled sponge cake as a snack, pasta with lentils for lunch and usually chicken for dinner.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
Tansy was rounding the table with our plates of breakfast up her arm.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
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
Many people are reconsidering their Caesar salad lunches and berry breakfasts as cases of cyclosporiasis, the explosive-diarrhea illness, continue to rise in the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Neighbors hosted pancake breakfasts and spaghetti nights to raise money for lawyers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026
These aren’t difficult or unpalatable breakfasts, but simply different — and nutritious — ones.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 21, 2026
Thinks about the breakfasts Mutti made—rye toast slicked with red currant jam made with berries that Helmuth picked himself.
From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
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
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
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
Like Mr. Clutter, the young man breakfasting in a cafe called the Little Jewel never drank coffee.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
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.
