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dinner

noun · verb

Simple meaning

The main meal of the day, often eaten in the evening.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

diner

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈdɪnɚ

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. The main meal of the day, often eaten in the evening.

  2. The main meal of the day served in the evening or at midday

  3. A midday meal (in a context in which the evening meal is called supper or tea).

  4. A formal meal for many people eaten for a special occasion.

  5. uncountable

    The food provided or consumed at any such meal.

  6. A meal given to an animal.

verb

  1. intransitive

    To eat a dinner; to dine.

  2. transitive

    To provide (someone) with a dinner; to dine.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The main meal of the day, often eaten in the evening.

Used this way, dinner 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.

More ways to use dinner

  • “Guests should never be late to a dinner party.”noun
  • “Dinner will be at 8.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

dinner partydinner tablegood dinner

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • dinner dressnounCompound term

    A gown for evening wear.

  • dinner gownnounCompound term

    A gown for evening wear.

  • dinner jacketnounCompound term

    Semiformal evening dress for men.

  • dinner napkinnounCompound term

    A large napkin used when dinner is served.

  • dinner pailnounCompound term

    A pail in which a workman carries his lunch or dinner.

  • dinner partynounCompound term

    A party of people assembled to have dinner together.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

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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.