noun

bread

brehd

noun

A food made by baking a mixture of flour, water, and usually yeast.

"She baked a fresh loaf of bread every Sunday morning."

"He spread butter on a thick slice of bread."

Money, especially as needed for a living (informal).

"He worked two jobs just to earn enough bread to get by."

The basic means of supporting life; sustenance in general.

"Farming was their daily bread for three generations."

How to Use Bread

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishThe baked food staple, or informally, money/livelihood.

When to use it

The "money" sense is informal slang.

Common pairings

loaf of bread daily bread bread and butter

Word Forms

breaded past tense, breaded past tense, breads plural, breads plural, breads plural, breads singular, breads singular

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She baked a fresh loaf of _____ every Sunday morning.

Etymology

From Old English brēad, from a prehistoric Germanic root connected with brewing or fermenting — likely referring originally to a "leavened" or "raised" dough rather than the flatbreads eaten earlier.

Rhymes for bread

head read lead dead bead mead plead tread ahead dread knead stead

See all rhymes for bread →