Breadline

//ˈbɹɛdlaɪn// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A line of people waiting to receive food from a charity. US

    "I do not think anyone of us can walk by a breadline and see even the most unkempt and raggedy man in the line without saying to himself, "There but for the grace of God.""

  2. 2
    a queue of people waiting for free food wordnet
  3. 3
    The lowest income level at which one's most basic necessities of survival are met; poverty line or subsistence level. British, figuratively

    "Every day brings new worries about falling below the breadline."

Synonyms

All synonyms
bread linesubsistence level

Example

More examples

"Nowadays people in Venezuela are on the breadline."

Etymology

From bread + line. In sense 2, referring to the income level at which one can afford to buy bread, a staple food.

Related phrases

below the breadlineon the breadline

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.