cornbread
Americannoun
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Also called Indian bread. a quick bread made from cornmeal and often including buttermilk or bacon drippings, originating from the cooking of Native Americans and common in the American South.
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Also called Jewish corn rye. Also called kornbroyt. a heavy sourdough rye bread, usually dusted with cornmeal.
Etymology
Origin of cornbread
An Americanism dating back to 1740–50
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.
The diner with stewy green beans flecked with bacon, sliding up next to a square of cornbread.
From Salon • Feb. 18, 2026
It’s a reality at the heart of Thanksgiving, when celebrants pass anecdotes around the table as freely as the cornbread dressing and pumpkin pie.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025
The screams wouldn’t have reached the Hollywood Hills, where Bill Whitten wound down after a typical Sunday cooking Southern-style collard greens and cornbread in his eclectic home filled with African and Black American minstrel art.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 13, 2025
He speaks softly but passionately about his work and the show as we converse before a meal of brisket, cornbread and an assortment of sides.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 27, 2025
He makes himself coffee and eats the cornbread or biscuits Ma saves for him from our meal the night before.
From "Shiloh" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
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.
