on the breadline

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word on the breadline. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word on the breadline, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say on the breadline in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word on the breadline you have here. The definition of the word on the breadline will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofon the breadline, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Prepositional phrase

on the breadline

  1. (idiomatic) In a situation of extreme poverty; relying on food donations or having only enough to survive.
    • 2021 February 25, Lilac Mills, Sunset on the Square: Escape on a Spanish Holiday with this Heartwarming Love Story, London: Canelo, →ISBN, →OCLC, →ISBN:
      She wasn't on the breadline exactly, but she didn't have an awful lot of spare cash to throw around, and she always, always lived within her means.
    • 2012 March 17, Russell M. Nash, Yellow Fever: An Englishman Falls Under the Spell of the Far East, Memoirs Publishing, →ISBN, →ISBN:
      This life continuously trapped on the breadline was not what I wanted, not forever.
    • 2014 January 16, Veronica Henry, Love on the Rocks, London: Orion, →ISBN, →OCLC, →ISBN:
      He was wearing a grubby white shirt, jeans and scuffed black slip-on shoes. Anyone would think he was on the breadline too.
    • 2015, J. R. L. Anderson, Death on the Rocks: A Classic English Murder Mystery, London: Bonnier Publishing Fiction, →ISBN, →OCLC, →ISBN:
      With capital of about £16,000 I wasn't exactly on the breadline.
    • 2012 September 20, Kevin Twaddle, Life on the Line: How to Lose a Million and So Much More, Edinburgh: Black & White Publishing, →ISBN, →OCLC, →ISBN:
      There were times where money was tight and we probably were on the breadline, but I still never really wanted for anything.
    • 1998, Keith Laybourn, Britain on the breadline: A social and political history of Britain 1918-1939, Gloucestershire: Sutton, →ISBN, →OCLC, →ISBN:
      Britain survived on the breadline.
    • 1969, New Zealand. Parliament. House of Representatives, Parliamentary Debates, page 4044:
      It is ridiculous to put our own people on the breadline by reducing their spending power by an enormous sum to save very much less in overseas funds.
    • 1993, Valerie Møller, Quality of Life in Unemployment: A Survey Evaluation of Black Township Dwellers, Pretoria: HSRC Publishers, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 70, →ISBN:
      The alternative argument states that, for people living on the breadline where every penny counts, the loss of a job may be the last straw factor.

Alternate forms

Translations