dinner
Americannoun
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dinners
plural
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the main meal of the day, eaten in the evening or at midday.
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a formal meal in honor of some person or occasion.
noun
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a meal taken in the evening
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a meal taken at midday, esp when it is the main meal of the day; lunch
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a formal evening meal, as of a club, society, etc
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a public banquet in honour of someone or something
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a complete meal at a fixed price in a restaurant; table d'hôte
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(modifier) of, relating to, or used at dinner
dinner plate
dinner table
dinner hour
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informal (usually passive) to do for, overpower, or outdo
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of dinner
1250–1300; Middle English diner < Old French disner (noun use of v.); see dine
Explanation
Dinner — also called supper — is the third meal of the day. It's the main meal, the one families often try to have together at the end of the day. If you skipped breakfast and lunch, then you probably can't wait for dinner: you must be starving! Dinner has always been the main meal, but it used to be served in the middle of the day and supper was last. Now that dinner is in the evening, too, supper and dinner are almost the same thing in the United States — you might go to a dinner in honor of someone, but not a supper, which wouldn't be as fancy.
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:
At dinner last month, she asked me to change my will so the house goes to her two children when I die.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
Located a block away from the Santa Monica Beach, the Victorian operates as a restaurant during the day, serving up weekend brunch, dinner and happy hour.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Where would you send someone for dinner if they only had one meal in the city?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Nadella was also present at other recent White House events, including a luncheon on artificial intelligence and a state dinner for China's President Xi Jinping.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
Not quite dinner, but an hour in which Mrs. Dannenberg would likely have begun preparing for the evening meal.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
Sometimes they learn about the annuities after receiving postcards in the mail inviting them to free lunches or dinners where they are pitched the products, he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
Frozen meals have come a long way from the blanched vegetables and rubbery, puck-shaped meat approximations found in TV dinners of the 1970s and 80s.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
MILAN—Prada flew more than 100 of its best customers here for this city’s storied Fashion Week, giving them private access to Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper” and dinners at restaurants booked out just for them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
It is a group of news organisations that combine resources to follow presidents wherever they are - in the Oval Office, at state dinners, on Air Force One or on holiday.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
Conversation at these dinners is largely reserved for the time between courses.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
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.
