What does "bread" mean?
A foodstuff made by baking dough made from cereals.
Bread
/brɛd/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A foodstuff made by baking dough made from cereals.
- Grammar: bread is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: alimentation, alimony, altar bread, black bread.
- Useful contrasts: cake, danish jordisk, danish smal.
- Usage evidence: There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.
How to use "bread"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "bread" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "bread" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "bread" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "bread" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "bread" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "alimentation" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "bread", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A foodstuff made by baking dough made from cereals. countable, uncountable
- 2 Breadth. Scotland, UK, dialectal, obsolete
- 3 A piece of embroidery; a braid.
- 4 food made from dough of flour or meal and usually raised with yeast or baking powder and then baked wordnet
- 5 A foodstuff made by baking dough made from cereals.; Such foodstuff that is not difficult to chew, being not extremely hard, dense, and dry. countable, especially, uncountable
"We made sandwiches with the bread we bought from the bakery."
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 informal terms for money wordnet
- 7 Food; sustenance; support of life, in general. countable, uncountable
"Give us this day our daily bread."
- 8 Any variety of bread. countable
"Some breads are harder and drier than others."
- 9 Money. Cockney, US, countable, slang, uncountable
"Maybe somebody would see him and recognize him, maybe one of the guys would lay enough bread on him for a meal or at least subway fare."
Verb
- 1 To coat with breadcrumbs. transitive
"breaded fish"
- 2 To form in meshes; net. transitive
- 3 cover with bread crumbs wordnet
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "bread"?
Common synonyms include: alimentation, alimony, altar bread, black bread, blunt, board.
How do you use "bread" in a sentence?
There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.
How do you pronounce "bread"?
Pronounced /brɛd/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English bred, breed, from Old English brēad (“fragment, bit, morsel, crumb", also "bread”), from Proto-West Germanic *braud, from Proto-Germanic *braudą (“bread”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerw-, *bʰrewh₁- (“to boil; to brew”), from *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”). Alternatively, from Proto-Germanic *braudaz, *brauþaz (“broken piece, fragment”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰera- (“to split, beat, hew, struggle”) (see brittle). Perhaps a conflation of the two. Possibly a doublet of broa. Cognates Cognate with Scots breid (“bread”), Yola breed (“bread”), North Frisian bruad, Bruar, brüüdj (“bread”), Saterland Frisian Brood (“bread”), West Frisian brea (“bread”), Alemannic German brot, broud, bruat, bròt, bröt (“bread”), Cimbrian proat, pròat (“bread”), Dutch brood (“bread”), German Brod, Brot (“bread”), German Low German Brod, Brood, Broot, Brot, Bräot (“bread”), Limburgish broed (“bread”), Luxembourgish Brout (“bread”), Mòcheno proat (“bread”), Vilamovian brūt (“bread; loaf”), Yiddish ברויט (broyt, “bread”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål brød (“bread”), Elfdalian broð (“bread”), Faroese breyð (“bread”), Icelandic brauð (“bread”), Norn brau, brow (“bread”), Norwegian Nynorsk braud, brød (“bread”), Swedish bröd (“bread”), Crimean Gothic broe (“bread”); also Cornish brys (“thought; mind”), Irish and Scottish Gaelic beir (“bear, give birth to”), Welsh bryd (“aim, intent”), Latin fors (“chance, luck”), Greek φέρνω (férno), φέρω (féro, “to bear, carry”), Albanian brydh (“to ripen, soften; to crumble”), Latvian bērt (“to pour; to scatter, strew”), Lithuanian berti (“to scatter, strew”), Belarusian бру́ха (brúxa, “belly”), Czech břich, břicho, břuch (“belly”), Kashubian brzëch (“belly”), Polish brzuch, brzucho (“belly”), Russian брю́хо (brjúxo, “belly”), Slovak brucho (“belly”), Armenian բերել (berel, “to bring, fetch”), Persian بردن (bordan/burdan, “to bear, carry”), Tocharian A and Tocharian B pär- (“to bear; to wear”), Sanskrit भारयति (bhārayati, “to carry”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English payn (“bread”), borrowed from Old French pain (“bread”). In this sense, mostly replaced loaf, which had been the more common term in Old English (see hlaf), a process which similarly occured in other languages such as German.
Etymology 2
From Middle English brede (“breadth, width, extent”), from Old English brǣdu (“breadth, width, extent”), from Proto-Germanic *braidį̄ (“breadth”). Cognate with Scots brede, breid (“breadth”), Dutch breedte (“breadth”), German Breite (“breadth”), Swedish bredd (“breadth”), Icelandic breidd (“breadth”).
Etymology 3
Variant of braid, from Middle English breden, from Old English brēdan, breġdan (“to braid”).