bread

bread — noun

1. baked food from a flour mixture, usually eaten as a loaf, slice, or roll.

1.nounA1
Definition

baked food from a flour mixture, usually eaten as a loaf, slice, or roll.

Example

Mei bought warm bread from the bakery before school.

collocation: warm bread

The soup tastes better with fresh bread and a little butter.

collocation: fresh bread

Common collocations
  • fresh bread
  • warm bread
  • slice of bread
  • piece of bread
  • loaf of bread
  • white bread
  • brown bread
Synonyms
  • loaf

    a whole shaped piece of bread, not the general food

  • roll

    a small individual piece of bread

Grammar Patterns

bread

a slice of bread

a piece of bread

a loaf of bread

Usage Note

Usually uncountable when you mean the food in general. For one unit, English normally uses words like 'slice', 'piece', or 'loaf' rather than 'a bread'.

Common Mistakes

I bought a bread for lunch.
I bought a loaf of bread for lunch.
bread is usually uncountable in this sense.
Can I have two breads?
Can I have two slices of bread?
use a unit word such as 'slice' when you count it.

2. money, especially in casual or dated talk about what a person earns or needs.

2.nounC1
Definition

money, especially in casual or dated talk about what a person earns or needs.

Example

The band plays weddings on weekends to earn extra bread.

pattern: earn bread

Noa needs more bread before she can rent her own flat.

pattern: need bread

Common collocations
  • earn bread
  • make bread
  • extra bread
  • enough bread
Synonyms
  • money

    the normal everyday word without the dated tone

  • cash

    more specific; actual coins or notes, or money ready to spend

  • dough

    informal slang; still commoner today than bread in this sense

Grammar Patterns

earn bread

make bread

need bread

Usage Note

Common with verbs like 'earn', 'make', and 'need'. Distinguish from the idiom 'your daily bread': this sense means money itself, while the idiom points more broadly to the things a person lives on.

Common Mistakes

He earns many breads driving a taxi.
He earns good bread driving a taxi.' OR 'He earns a lot of money driving a taxi.
this sense is uncountable, and modern English usually prefers 'money'.
Idioms

the best thing since sliced bread

idiom

said about a new thing that seems amazingly useful, exciting, or impressive.

Theo says the new bus app is the best thing since sliced bread.

At work, everyone treated the new printer like the best thing since sliced bread.

your daily bread

idiom

the food and other simple necessities a person needs each day to live.

For years, the sea provided the islanders with their daily bread.

After the factory closed, many families worried about their daily bread.

half a loaf (is better than no bread)

idiom

used to say that getting a small part of what you wanted is still better than getting nothing.

The grant was small, but half a loaf is better than no bread.

Uncle Farouk accepted the smaller room, saying half a loaf is better than no bread.

know which side your bread is buttered

idiom

to understand where your own benefit lies and behave in a way that protects it.

Rohan praised the director because he knows which side his bread is buttered.

The adviser backed the richest donor because she knew which side her bread was buttered.

take the bread out of somebody's mouth

idiom

to remove the work or pay that keeps someone able to live.

Cheap imports took the bread out of local farmers' mouths.

Closing the mill would take the bread out of two hundred families' mouths.

take the bread out of somebody’s mouth

idiom

To remove someone's ability to earn money for basic needs.

The new factory took the bread out of local farmers' mouths.

Did the automation take the bread out of workers' mouths?

bread — verb

Word family

  • breaded
    adjectiveB2
  • breading
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Bread is the general word for this baked food. Use it when you mean the food in general or when the shape does not matter: We need bread for breakfast. A loaf is one whole baked piece before you cut it, so you buy a loaf and then eat slices from it. A roll is a small individual piece, often round and served with soup or a meal. Toast is not a different kind of dough; it is bread that has been browned again in a toaster, pan, or oven. Learners sometimes overuse loaf as if it meant all bread, but loaf sounds too specific in many situations.

loaf ↗rolltoast ↗

Etymology

Old EnglishGermanicEnglish

Bread comes from Old English bread, a Germanic word. It is related to an older German word for bread and to the Old English verb breowan, 'to brew', showing an old link between grain, baking, and drink-making.