supper
Americannoun
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the evening meal, often the principal meal of the day.
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any light evening meal, especially one taken late in the evening.
an after-the-theater supper.
adjective
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of or relating to supper.
the supper dishes.
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for, during, or including supper.
a supper party.
noun
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an evening meal, esp a light one
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an evening social event featuring a supper
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to obtain something by performing a service
verb
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rare (tr) to give supper to
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rare (intr) to eat supper
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of supper
1225–75; Middle English sup ( p ) er < Old French souper, noun use of souper to sup 2
Explanation
Supper, which is also known as dinner, is usually the third daily meal you eat. Many families try to sit down and eat supper together at the end of the day. First comes breakfast, then lunch, and then finally, in the evening, it's time for supper. The word supper is less common today than dinner, although North Americans generally consider the words to be synonyms. Until the early 20th century, the meal we now generally refer to as lunch was called dinner, while the evening meal was supper. It comes from the Old French soper, "to eat the evening meal."
Vocabulary lists containing supper
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:
On Wednesday, she watched Sotheby’s sale over livestream from a supper club event at the art space Hastings Contemporary, where she’d been invited to speak about Freud.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
"The restaurant we went up to last night for supper, they were all talking about it."
From Barron's ● Apr. 1, 2026
Tornado Steak House – More of a classic supper club than a traditional steakhouse, and it absolutely delivers.
From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2026
"I'm finally able to say, 'No, sorry, I'm tired and I'm going to have an early night. Have whatever you want for supper; Daddy is here.'"
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
The children nearly always had supper in the nursery with Penelope, who would read aloud to them as they ate.
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
We had a family tradition of Sunday suppers, and when we didn’t eat at home, we would go out to restaurants like Olive Garden.
From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2026
President Andrew Crook said the price of cod had doubled in the past year and claimed consumers were ditching fish suppers for cheaper ready meals.
From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2025
The heart of the space is an airy, sophisticated sitting room that connects on the south side to a dining room suggestive of decadent late night suppers in postwar Paris, and an industrial-inflected kitchen.
From New York Times ● Nov. 27, 2024
Sunday suppers are also when they divvy up things that need to get done around the house.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 6, 2023
Like the rest of us, she wanted to serve suppers, and scold servants, and set aside money in her almari to have her eyebrows threaded every three weeks at the Chinese beauty parlor.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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.
