Dictionary

white bread en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

1. (US, colloquial, derogatory) Bland, boring; flavorless.
   • He’s always thought of himself as boring, “a white-bread suburban househusband.” 2022 May 11, Alexandra Alter, quoting Kim Stanley Robinson, “A Sci-Fi Writer Returns to Earth: ‘The Real Story Is the One Facing Us’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • She's been living in her white bread world / As long as anyone with hot blood can / And now she's looking for a downtown man 1983, Billy Joel, “Uptown Girl”:
   • This is our chance to make a name for ourselves; to show that we're not just some piss-ant white-bread mountain town. 1997 August 20, Trey Parker, Matt Stone, “Weight Gain 4000”, in South Park, season 1, episode 2, spoken by Mayor McDaniels:
2. (US, derogatory, ethnic, often, slang, slur) Characteristic of or relating to middle-class white people.
   • [Rudy] Giuliani is hedging a bit, but he's not the white-bread cop so many blacks expect him to be. 1993 November 15, Eric Pooley, “Can Giuliani Pull It Together?”, in New York, volume 26, number 45, page 53:

Forms

Synonyms

wallowish · no fun at parties · flat · prosaic · soporific · cardboard · lame · boring · beat · stodgy · flaggy · conventional · uncool · dull as dishwater · untasteable · wan · bourgeois · watery · waugh · insipid · sapidless · bland · mindless · tedious · tasteless · plodding · plain · commonplace · languid · ho-hum · basic · ingustible · vapid · pedestrian · dreich · insipid · tame · colourless · wonderbread · heavy going · unsavory · stuffy · snoozeworthy · mundane · flavorless · cold · static · lackluster · smackless · longsome · bland · vapid · mawkish · drab · uninteresting · wersh · wearish · humdrum · straightforward · intastable · dull · weaksauce · gustless · monotonous · wonderbread · pedantic · wooden · banal · vanilla · drowsy · lifeless · corny · prosy · savorless · blah

white bread en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) Bread made from white flour.
   • At one time, when the commandant felt especially indebted, he sent the other officers out of his office and opened the safe. There it was, securely hidden, an entire loaf of white''' bread. He cut a large slice, wrapped it in newspaper and, beaming, handed this precious gift to Ildikó. "Just for you. I, as the commandant, am entitled to some white bread," he said proudly. Ildikó was touched, not by the value of the gift but by the realization of the Russians' grave poverty. 1998, Csaba Teglas, chapter VII, in Budapest Exit, page 73:
   • Well, then, fix it up nice, waiter, and make mine baked hash an’ mashed ’taters and stewed corn and waiter!—plain white bread, no fancy rolls! 1936 December 23, Hazel Livingston, “‘Love’s Litany’”, in Walter V. Hogan, editor, The Daily Reporter, volume XX, number 53, White Plains, N.Y.: White Plains Publishing Company, →OCLC, chapter IX, page 18, column 4:
   • Yes—just become a Communist, and things get all right. Deny your Christ and they will give you white bread in plenty and clothes to wear—" He would hold his breath, would wonder and question: "What is white bread? And who is Christ?" 1933, Edith Almedingen, “White Bread for Creeds”, in The Catholic World, volume 136:
2. (idiomatic, often, uncountable, usually) Bread made from white flour. ▸ A storebought, mass-produced, inexpensive type of such bread that is very soft and is usually in the Pullman loaf shape.
   • There's a pretty big difference between American cheese on white bread and sharp cheddar on French bread.
3. (US, derogatory, ethnic, often, slang, slur, uncountable, usually) A middle-class white person (person of European descent), or a person who 'acts white'.
   • Teyshawn wanted to yell whitebreads did it—fucking whitebreads. 2006, Michael Soltys, The Grass Is Green, section 296:
   • evelyn. Fuck you, white bread. vincent. Oh, I'm white? evelyn. You don't act black. vincent. (smiling) And yet, people still treat me like I'm black. 2011, Kathryn Grant, The Good Counselor, act I, scene ii:

Forms

Coordinates

wheat · rye · wheat · pumpernickel · wholemeal bread · wheat bread · pain de mie · brown bread · wholemeal bread · pumpernickel · whole wheat bread · brown bread · pain de mie · black bread · wheat bread · rye bread · light bread · light bread · rye bread · rye · black bread · whole wheat bread

Hypernyms

food · bread · bread · food

Relateds

white · white

Translations (40)

de Weißbrot (bread made from white flour) · pdt Wittbroot (bread made from white flour) · hu fehér kenyér (bread made from white flour) · id roti putih (bread made from white flour) · fi vaalea leipä (bread made from white flour) · yue 白麵包 /白面包 (bread made from white flour) · tl puting tinapay (bread made from white flour) · pt pão branco (bread made from white flour) · nl wittebrood (bread made from white flour) · ga arán bán (bread made from white flour) · es pan blanco (bread made from white flour) · nds-de Stuut (bread made from white flour) · ja 白パン (bread made from white flour) · el λευκό ψωμί (bread made from white flour) · ro pâine albă (bread made from white flour) · is hveitibrauð (bread made from white flour) · fi valkoinen leipä (bread made from white flour) · sv vitt bröd (bread made from white flour) · cy bara can (bread made from white flour) · et sai (bread made from white flour) · lv baltmaize (bread made from white flour) · it pane bianco (bread made from white flour) · hrx Weisbrod (bread made from white flour) · yi ווײַסברויט (bread made from white flour) · vi bánh mì trắng (bread made from white flour) · ga arán geal (bread made from white flour) · ca pa blanc (bread made from white flour) · af witbrood (bread made from white flour) · pl białe pieczywo (bread made from white flour) · cy bara gwyn (bread made from white flour) · ru бе́лый хлеб (bread made from white flour) · de Weissbrot (bread made from white flour) · yi בולקע (bread made from white flour) · nds-de Stuten (bread made from white flour) · el άσπρο ψωμί (bread made from white flour) · is franskbrauð (bread made from white flour) · mt ħobż abjad (bread made from white flour) · fr pain de mie (bread made from white flour) · cmn 白麵包 /白面包 (bread made from white flour) · fr pain blanc (bread made from white flour)

wikidata: Q1501889 · wikidata: Q1501889