breadwinner

noun

bread·​win·​ner ˈbred-ˌwi-nər 

plural breadwinners

1

: a member of a family whose wages supply the family's principal or only means of support

the main/primary/sole breadwinner in the family

… many more households have two breadwinners, making it unlikely that there will be someone home all afternoon to cook.

—Mark Bittman

2

: a means (such as a tool, craft, or activity) of livelihood : a way of earning income

Crop diversity kept the overall value of Montana agriculture strong even as wheat, the state agriculture's breadwinner, faltered.

—Tom Lutey

Catfish farming has become the breadwinner industry for many families in west Alabama …

—Robert Dewitt and Benita D. Newton

breadwinning

ˈbred-ˌwi-niŋ 

noun

Examples of breadwinner in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

My dad basically paid the mortgage and utilities, and my mom was responsible for everything else as the breadwinner. —R29 Team, refinery29.com, 17 June 2024

Sons traditionally are the -- are -- become breadwinners, not only for their own families but also for the families of their parents. —Nadia Hashimi, Foreign Affairs, 27 Apr. 2015

Related Articles In an interview with WWD in 2016, Leaf attributed her steely work ethic to her mother — the family breadwinner who wasn’t above hauling cases in her father-in-law’s tavern and liquor store. —Rosemary Feitelberg, WWD, 3 July 2024

The state privileges traditional nuclear families in which the father is the breadwinner and the mother is in charge of domestic activities and childrearing. —Jenny Noyce, JSTOR Daily, 28 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1614, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Kids Definition

breadwinner

noun

bread·​win·​ner ˈbred-ˌwin-ər 

: a person whose wages provide support for his or her family