Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun One whose earnings are the primary source of support for one's dependents.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One who earns a livelihood for himself and those dependent upon him: usually restricted to one who is directly dependent upon his earnings from day to day or from week to week.
- noun That by means of which one earns one's bread.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The member of a family whose labor supplies the food of the family; one who works for his living.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
primary income -earner in ahousehold
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun one whose earnings are the primary source of support for their dependents
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Unfortunately, the breadwinner is the power holder and humans are not all always fair and responsible with their power.
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The emergence of this cohort of high-earning young women and the increasing number of female breadwinners are transforming gender relationships, upending patterns of matchmaking, marriage and motherhood, creating a new conflict between the sexes, redefining the word "breadwinner" and inspiring tracts on the leveling of men's roles.
NYT > Home Page By LUISITA LOPEZ TORREGROSA 2011
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Being the eldest son, Amir had to work even harder as the main breadwinner of the family, which was comprised of his four brothers, a baby sister and his parents, as well as an uncle who suffers from throat cancer.
Fahad Faruqui: Muslims Against Muslims: The Struggle Between God's Worshippers and God's Warriors Fahad Faruqui 2010
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Being the eldest son, Amir had to work even harder as the main breadwinner of the family, which was comprised of his four brothers, a baby sister and his parents, as well as an uncle who suffers from throat cancer.
Fahad Faruqui: Muslims Against Muslims: The Struggle Between God's Worshippers and God's Warriors Fahad Faruqui 2010
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Being the eldest son, Amir had to work even harder as the main breadwinner of the family, which was comprised of his four brothers, a baby sister and his parents, as well as an uncle who suffers from throat cancer.
Fahad Faruqui: Muslims Against Muslims: The Struggle Between God's Worshippers and God's Warriors Fahad Faruqui 2010
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The main breadwinner, Rachel is really the Traditional Dad, but instead of being handed her pipe and slippers at six, she appears to be marooned in a sexless remodeling project with a passive-aggressive Competitive Wife.
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Also take care to note that several families are still unsure of how they'll be able to make ends meet while the primary breadwinner is gone obviously they've been squandering the "vast" piles of cash the government has been giving them.
Military Pay 2009
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No, these are the folks, often families with kids, where the main breadwinner lost their job, or there is a divorce with the mother not having a job, and then the family not being able to afford their home or any other one available, folks with no backup of savings.
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For example, she may be the main breadwinner, he does the housework, or he handles the money and investments.
>An interview with Laura Carroll, conducted by Carol Dominy. First published in BellaOnline.com. 2010
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When she married Ronald Rougier and had a son of her own, she carried on as the head of this household as well, becoming the main breadwinner while her husband stuttered through an early and unsuccessful career as a mining engineer and then changed direction completely to train as a barrister.
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