breakfast
Americannoun
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the first meal of the day; morning meal.
A hearty breakfast was served at 7 a.m.
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the food eaten at the first meal of the day.
a breakfast of bacon and eggs.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
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the first meal of the day
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( as modifier )
breakfast cereal
a breakfast room
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the food at this meal
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(in the Caribbean) a midday meal
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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breakfastsimple
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breakfastssimple
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have breakfastedperfect
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has breakfastedperfect
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am breakfastingprogressive
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are breakfastingprogressive
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is breakfastingprogressive
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have been breakfastingperfect progressive
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has been breakfastingperfect progressive
Past
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breakfastedsimple
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had breakfastedperfect
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was breakfastingprogressive
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were breakfastingprogressive
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had been breakfastingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of breakfast
First recorded in 1425–75, breakfast is from the late Middle English word brekfast. See break, fast 2
Explanation
Breakfast is the first meal of the day, usually eaten in the morning. Eating a healthy breakfast may give you a boost of energy to start your day. The word breakfast comes from the idea of "breaking the fast" after a night of sleeping. A fast is a period of not eating. During sleep, the body goes without food for hours, so when you eat breakfast, you stop fasting and start eating again, restoring energy for the day ahead. Breakfast foods vary widely depending on culture and personal preference. Eggs, cereal, toast, pancakes, and fruit are commonly eaten for breakfast in some places. In other places, soup, salad, fish, and rice are preferred.
Vocabulary lists containing breakfast
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:
That meant improving service speeds, making stores more welcoming, and punching up the menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
The drones make a grueling job a little bit easier by delivering a hot breakfast in minutes to Sherpa climbers who set out in the middle of the night with just headlamps to guide them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
A clean-up even due to take place at Tiergarten park and a breakfast market scheduled for Sunday morning were both cancelled following the attack.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Prosecutors said Alexander Soofer falsified invoices claiming he was serving fresh meals to residents while actually serving breakfast bars and microwavable ramen noodles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
If I were at camp, I’d be starting breakfast.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
If approved, the state would have a constitutional mandate to provide free lunches and breakfasts for all K-12 public school students.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026
Customers ordered full English breakfasts and Guinnesses and sang national anthems.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Many people are reconsidering their Caesar salad lunches and berry breakfasts as cases of cyclosporiasis, the explosive-diarrhea illness, continue to rise in the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
These breakfasts produce a rapid glucose spike and an insulin response early in the day.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 21, 2026
Plus, I had seen what happened to a lot of those big breakfasts eaten by keyed-up Marines who had to get into boats being rocked back and forth by the waves.
From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac
Hazzard said the baboons were “well and resting” after their foiled escape attempt and had breakfasted on bananas, capsicum, apple and bread.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 26, 2020
We had breakfasted there a little while ago.
From New York Times ● Aug. 29, 2016
Mitt Romney in 2012 famously declared in Mississippi that he'd just breakfasted on "a biscuit and some cheesy grits" — drawing groans from a crowd who knew he meant cheese grits.
From US News ● Feb. 19, 2016
Administrations, breakfasted with editors, huddled with American nuclear experts, and briefed the Times editorial board.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 6, 2015
They had their shock treatments while we breakfasted in our rooms, and then they came into the lounge, quiet and extinguished, led like children by the nurses, and ate their breakfasts there.
From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
Clients include breakfasting Qataris, construction and security guards off overnight shifts and, this week, tourists in soccer jerseys descending on the country, where foreigners, mostly migrant workers, form the bulk of the 3 million population.
From Reuters ● Nov. 24, 2022
In the future, you could be breakfasting on false banana or snacking on pandanus tree fruit.
From BBC ● May 21, 2022
Bonus: This quirk makes stollen the ideal make-ahead treat for all your holiday gifting, breakfasting, and last-minute company needs.
From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2021
Two majors after that, he won the 2018 PGA Championship in St. Louis after breakfasting on Sunday with a two-shot lead he treated without tremble.
From Washington Post ● May 18, 2019
Like Mr. Clutter, the young man breakfasting in a cafe called the Little Jewel never drank coffee.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
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.
