English Explanatory Dictionary

dinner

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The main meal of the day, often eaten in the evening.
  2. An evening meal.
  3. A midday meal (in a context in which the evening meal is called supper or tea).
  4. A meal given to an animal.
  5. A formal meal for many people eaten for a special occasion.
  6. The food provided or consumed at any such meal.
verb
  1. To eat a dinner; to dine.
  2. To provide (someone) with a dinner; to dine.

Pronunciation

/ˈdɪnə/ En-uk-dinner.ogg dĭnʹər /ˈdɪnɚ/ en-us-dinner.ogg /ˈɖɪnːə(ɾ)/ /ˈdɪnːa/

Word forms

dinner dinners dinnering dinnered

Etymology

From Middle English dyner, from Old French disner (“lunch”, but originally “breakfast”), (modern French dîner), from Vulgar Latin *disiūnō, *disiūnāre from Latin dis- + iēiūnō (“to break the fast”).

Synonyms

supper tea lunch luncheon chow banquet feast dine

Related words

deipnophobia dine deipno-

Derived words

after-dinner after-dinner speech all duck or no dinner a revolution is not a dinner party bachelor dinner bachelor's dinner basket dinner bedinner boiled dinner brinner Burns dinner candlelight dinner candlelit dinner Christmas dinner dinner bell dinner camp dinner-card dinner dance dinner dress dinnerette dinner fork dinner-goer dinner-hour dinner hour dinner jacket dinner-jacketed dinner knife dinner lady dinnerless dinnerlike dinnerly dinner man dinnermate dinner party dinner-party dinner pill dinnerplate dinner plate dinner ring dinner roll dinner room dinner salad dinner service dinner shirt dinner suit dinner-table dinner table dinner theater dinner theatre dinner-time dinner time dinnertime dinnertini dinner wagon dinnerwards dinnerware dinnerwear dinnery doggy dinner bowl look dog's dinner
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on D Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary