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

The Eagles had in mind city-dwelling male breadwinners and excluded household and domestic work from their vision of who was among the deserving. —Trevor Jackson, The New York Review of Books, 4 Apr. 2026

As a result, Maxey was the breadwinner for the family of four. —Madison E. Goldberg, PEOPLE, 4 Apr. 2026

Doak and the Immigration and Naturalization Service have been sharply criticized, especially by social workers who came into contact with families left destitute because their breadwinners had been deported, often for technical irregularities that were not their fault but the government’s. —Christine Smallwood, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026

Since Marie was fired, and her husband became the family’s sole breadwinner, life has been a bitter struggle. —Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal, 17 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1614, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for breadwinner

• beginner
• dinner
• inner
• pinner
• sinner
• spinner
• thinner
• tinner
• winner

Kids Definition

breadwinner

noun

bread·​win·​ner ˈbred-ˌwin-ər 

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