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:
I enjoyed a nice dinner and then waited as the speaker before me—from a group named Teton Gravity Research out of Jackson Hole, Wyo.—got ready.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
This is not a 30-minute dinner, and there is no reason to pretend otherwise.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
Invite your friends or family for lunch or dinner.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 16, 2026
Timing my visit to avoid weekend crowds, I ate a dinner of chicken in tasty mole negro at Three Cultures Kitchen, which opened last year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
We met Lloyd coming home, swinging his dinner pail.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
With life lessons learned among the bees, communal dinners, and music, King not only helps her gradually integrate into the community, but also passes on his leadership role to her.
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
His informal getup, a T-shirt and shorts, contrasts with the elegant environment primed for business lunches and ostentatious dinners.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Related: ‘I’ve plenty of time on my hands’: Advisers bombard me with offers of free steak dinners.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
Because since then, I’ve found myself thinking about all the other frozen things that can elicit the same feeling: not resignation, not emergency, not the sad little archaeology of dinners past, but anticipation.
From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026
At one point, Fischer and Kok joined the Spasskys in a doubles tennis match; there were elegant, candlelit dinners and postprandial conversations, and a few outings into Brussels itself.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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.
