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:
You've eaten dinner, you're comfortably full, and yet half an hour later you're raiding the kitchen cupboards.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
During his rookie season in 2020, the Chargers quarterback told GQ magazine he was “living off” the sandwiches, consuming both a Steak Philly sub and a Chicken & Bacon Ranch sub each night for dinner.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
This is the dinner for when I want something cozy and substantial but do not want to peel a single potato.
From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026
You walk out of the grocery store, ready to head home and make dinner.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 5, 2026
As soon as dinner is over, Grandma follows me to my room and confronts me.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
While you were putting all that money aside for retirement, surely there were purchases that you had to delay making in order to save, or dinners out that you had to skip.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2026
This is one of those dinners that started with a can and became something much more interesting.
From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026
He said he hasn’t been influenced by perks, which have included wine tastings and steak dinners, to add investment products.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
After the Palisades fire, the ranch began hosting weekly community potluck dinners for anyone who lost their home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
There is a recurrent scene from those dinners that surfaces again and again, like an obsessive undercurrent in a dream.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
