breed
verb (used with object)
to produce (offspring); procreate; engender.
had bred
-
past perfectof breed.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
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.
So much so that state media recently reported that the industry had seen "rapid growth" which had "bred illegal practices and chaos".
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Impending erasure had bred a kind of earnest patriotism — an attempt by the Taiwanese to assert their existence in any space that would tolerate them.
From New York Times ● Aug. 4, 2021
I asked Brown, the entomologist, whether I had bred a new and unkillable mutant species of fungus gnat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2021
Growing up in Krefeld, Germany, Leendertz had bred mice and toads and spent a lot of time at the local zoo.
From Science Magazine ● Jan. 28, 2021
He had bred the first peregrines in captivity and, using an ancient technique called hacking, had been able to free them to the wild.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
