Definition of breadwinner
1 : a means (such as a tool or craft) of livelihood
2 : a member of a family whose wages supply its livelihood
From the M-W Editors
Recent Examples of breadwinner from the Web
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The first thing a family’s breadwinner should consider is life insurance.
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But the couple's only child, Mallory Lewis, paints a different picture, stating her mother struggled with being both the breadwinner and an adoring wife.
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Net worth: $30 million While Queen Elizabeth most certainly is the breadwinner, Prince Philip receives just over $442,000 a year as determined by the Sovereign Grant for, well, just being royal.
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Net worth: $30 million While Queen Elizabeth most certainly is the breadwinner, Prince Philip receives just over $442,000 a year as determined by the Sovereign Grant for, well, just being royal.
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With the family's apartment destroyed and the breadwinner gone, Flescher and her brother and mother went to live with a relative, in the area of the city to which the surviving Jews — almost all women and children — were constrained.
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Japan’s once mighty salary men have taken a pummeling in recent years - with pay stagnating and rising numbers of working women and mothers eroding their once-dominant position as the family’s breadwinner.
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Women now make up half of the American workforce and are family breadwinners in 60 percent of American households.
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Can Tasha survive without the family's breadwinner?
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'breadwinner.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of breadwinner
1720
BREADWINNER Defined for English Language Learners
breadwinner
playDefinition of breadwinner for English Language Learners
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: a person who earns money to support a family
Learn More about breadwinner
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See words that rhyme with breadwinner Spanish Central: Translation of breadwinner Nglish: Translation of breadwinner for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of breadwinner for Arabic speakers
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