Bread line

/ˈbɹɛdlaɪn/ · noun

Meaning

(US) A line of people waiting to receive food from a charity..

Definitions by Sense

1. (US) A line of people waiting to receive food from a charity.
2. (British, figurative) The lowest income level at which one's most basic necessities of survival are met; poverty line or subsistence level.

Example Sentences

I do not think anyone of us can walk by a breadline and see even the most unkempt and raggedy man in the line without saying to himself, "There but for the grace of God."

Breadlines and social agencies, while staffing women, employed more men and served more men, making women a minority in the visual landscape.

Every day brings new worries about falling below the breadline.

[…] and she wasn't used to cash, living on the breadline with a kid to bring up.

It hurt him to see other good ex-servicemen working their socks off and making no-gooders comfortable while they remained just over the breadline.

It changed her. Having lived below the breadline, having lived with excess, was it about to change once more?

For poor people that takes them near the breadline, but they still do it.

Synonyms for bread line

Antonyms for bread line

Related Words

Word Forms

• breadlines
• bread line

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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