Word.ws English Dictionary

dinner

Syllables: din·ner/ˈdɪnə//ˈdɪnɚ/

dinner noun: the main meal of the day, often eaten in the evening.

Noun

dinner (countable and uncountable, plural dinners)

  1. The main meal of the day, often eaten in the evening.
    • I had an early dinner because the breakfast in this hostel is superb.
    • I wonder what's for dinner.1993, Mark Berry as "King Harkinian", a character in Animation Magic, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, Philips Interactive Media (publ.).
  2. An evening meal.
    • I had some friends to dinner two nights ago.
    • Do I have to change for dinner?
    Synonyms:
    supper, tea
  3. A midday meal (in a context in which the evening meal is called supper or tea).
    • At twilight in the summer[…]the mice come out. They[…]eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkley, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly[…]on the floor.1892, Walter Besant, “In the Office”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 45
    • It was already late for school, so the boy took his time and only arrived in the village when Heidi came home for dinner. […] "Come to the table now and eat with us. Then you can go up with Heidi, and when you bring her back at night, you can get your supper here."1919, Elisabeth P. Stork (translator), Heidi, Johanna Spyrihttp://www.gutenberg.org/files/20781/20781-h/20781-h.htm
    Synonyms:
    lunch, luncheon
  4. A meal given to an animal.
    • Give the dog its dinner.
    Synonyms:
    chow
  5. A formal meal for many people eaten for a special occasion.
    • My family gathers twice a year, namely at Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners.
    • When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 2
    Synonyms:
    banquet, feast, luncheon
  6. (uncountable) The food provided or consumed at any such meal.

Verb

dinner (third-person singular simple present dinners, present participle dinnering, simple past and past participle dinnered)

  1. (intransitive) To eat a dinner.
    • Once I was geared up, I joined him on the wide, flat seat of the sled which was loaded up with hot food for the jacks who were dinnering out since they worked a forty far from the camp.2014, Caroline Akervik, chapter 6, in White Pine, White Bear Lake, MN: Melange Books, page 57
    Synonyms:
    dine
  2. (transitive) To provide (someone) with a dinner.
    • She had taken her about to concerts and exhibitions—she had dinnered her at the Colonies, and suppered her at the New Club.1887, Caroline Emily Cameron, A Devout Lover, London: F.V. White & Co., Volume 1, Chapter 11, p. 181
    • ‘The Irish were awful anyway,’ Lady Wolseley said, ‘and their not attending the season should be greeted with relief. The dreary matrons dragging their dreary daughters about the place and dinnering up every possible partner for them. The truth is that no one wants to marry their daughters, no one...2004, Colm Tóibín, chapter 2, in The Master, New York: Scribner, page 26
    Synonyms:
    dine

dinner meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

dinner in Hindi

evening meal
रात का भोजन rāt kā bhojan, भोजन bhojan, भोज bhoj, खाना khānā
midday meal
दावत dāvat, भोजन bhojan, भोज bhoj, खाना khānā
a formal meal
दावत dāvat, भोजन bhojan, भोज bhoj

dinner in Tamil

இரவுணவு, விருந்து, நிறை உணவு, சிறப்பு உணவு

dinner in Marathi

रात्रीचे जेवण

dinner in Urdu

a formal meal
عِشائِیَہ 'iśāiya
More languagesFewer languages
dinner in Bengali
হাজরি hazri, বড় হাজরি bôṛô hazri, দাওয়াত daōẇat
dinner in Telugu
రాత్రి భోజనం, డిన్నరింగ్, డిన్నర్
dinner in Malayalam
അത്താഴം attāḻaṁ
dinner in Kannada
ಊಟ, ಪಂಡ, ಪಂಡಿಕೆ, ಭೋಜನ
dinner in Punjabi
ਰਾਤ ਦਾ ਖਾਣਾ, ਰਾਤ ਦਾ ਭੋਜਨ
dinner in Odia
ରାତ୍ରିଭୋଜନ, ରାତ୍ରି ଭୋଜନ, ରାତ୍ରୀ ଭୋଜନ
dinner in Nepali
रात्रिभोज, रातको खाना, रातिको खाना
dinner in Pashto
ماښامنۍ mâẍâmanə́y
dinner in Tagalog
hapunan
dinner in Arabic
عَشَاء ʕašāʔ, غَدَاء ḡadāʔ
dinner in Malay
makan malam
dinner in Vietnamese
bữa tối, bữa chiều, bữa xế

Examples of dinner in a sentence

  • We're about to start dinner. Phone again later.
  • Campbell, dinner was announced by Abboye.1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 4, in Pulling the Strings:
  • The dreary matrons dragging their dreary daughters about the place and dinnering up every possible partner for them.2004, Colm Tóibín, chapter 2, in The Master, New York: Scribner, page 26:

All 40 example sentences with dinner

Synonyms of dinner

All synonyms of dinner

Forms of dinner

Noun
pluraldinners
Verb
third-person singular presentdinners
present participledinnering
past participledinnered
pastdinnered

Plural of dinner: dinners

Origin of dinner

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”).

Words formed from dinner

Phrases with dinner

59 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with dinner

Questions about dinner

What does dinner mean?
Dinner means the main meal of the day, often eaten in the evening.
What is dinner in Hindi?
Dinner in Hindi is रात का भोजन (rāt kā bhojan), भोजन (bhojan), भोज (bhoj). See Dinner meaning in Hindi.
How do you use dinner in a sentence?
We're about to start dinner. Phone again later.
What part of speech is dinner?
Dinner can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce dinner?
Dinner is pronounced /ˈdɪnə/ (UK).
What is the plural of dinner?
The plural of dinner is dinners.

Words near dinner in the dictionary

  1. dinmont
  2. dinmonts
  3. dinna
  4. Dinnebito Wash
  5. dinned
  6. dinner
  7. dinner bell
  8. dinner bells
  9. dinner camp
  10. dinner camps
  11. dinner dance

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dinner (page history and authors); dinner (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dinner (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dinner (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); അത്താഴം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); dinner (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dinner (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dinner (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dinner (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-dinner.ogg, en-us-dinner.ogg.

Cite this entry: “dinner.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dinner. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.