breadcrumb
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A tiny piece of bread, either something that falls from bread as it is cut or eaten, or one made deliberately by crumbling bread.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
brehdkruhmSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɹɛdkˈɹʌm
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
chiefly in the plural
A tiny piece of bread, either one that falls from bread as it is cut or eaten, or one made deliberately by crumbling bread.
Crumb of bread; used especially for coating or thickening
graphical user interfacechiefly in the plural
A single link in a chain indicating the hierarchical location of a directory, web page or similar, used as a navigation aid.
figurativelyin the plural
One in a series of clues leading to a person or place.
verb
transitivecooking
To sprinkle breadcrumbs on to food, normally before cooking.
To use clues or enticements to lead someone in the desired direction.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A tiny piece of bread, either one that falls from bread as it is cut or eaten, or one made deliberately by crumbling bread.
Used this way, breadcrumb is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.