bread-and-butter

1 of 2

adjective

bread-and-but·​ter ˈbred-ən(d)-ˈbə-tər 

1

a

: being as basic as the earning of one's livelihood

bread-and-butter issues

b(1)

: reliable

our bread-and-butter repertoire

(2)

: dependable as a source of income

a company's bread-and-butter products

2

: sent or given as thanks for hospitality

a bread-and-butter letter

bread and butter

2 of 2

noun

: a means of sustenance or livelihood

Examples of bread-and-butter in a Sentence

Noun

Casual clothing has always been the company's bread and butter.

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Microsoft is removing the ability to make domestic or international phone calls after May 5, though—something that was once Skype's bread-and-butter functionality but now something better solved by other tools. —Julian Chokkattu, WIRED, 1 Mar. 2025

This spring, explore an array of hotel spas with robust health and wellness programming extending beyond bread-and-butter facial and massages. —Kate Donnelly, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2025

Noun

So just fill the zone up, mixing my pitches, fastball, changeup was my bread and butter today. —Gabrielle Starr, Boston Herald, 21 Feb. 2025

SiriusXM’s building two new channels around the Unwell Network shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given that linear audio programming is the company’s bread and butter. —Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 28 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

circa 1837, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Noun

1770, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for bread-and-butter

• kilometre
• butter
• clutter
• cutter
• flutter
• gutter
• mutter
• nutter
• putter
• rutter
• shutter
• sputter

Kids Definition

bread-and-butter

adjective

ˌbred-ᵊn-ˈbət-ər

1

a

: concerned with or being as basic as earning a living

bread-and-butter economic issues

b

: dependable

bread-and-butter products that always sell

2

: sent or given as thanks for hospitality

a bread-and-butter note