Skip to main content
breadbasket

breadbasket

4 4.4
A region that grows most of a country's grain
  • noun
  • /ˈbrɛdˌbæskɪt/
translation icon : granero
  • Africa has the potential to be a major breadbasket for global grain production.

Examples

  • Here we are, winging our way across the breadbasket of America, on our way to picturesque Detroit.

  • That's why developed countries have such a huge impact; we're the breadbasket of the world!

    Blog text (28)
  • The American breadbasket, the West.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Richard observed that the U.S., Canada, and Australia are the world's breadbasket.

    Blog text (24)
  • The U.S., with its great Midwest, which used to be the breadbasket of the world!

    Fiction book (1994)
  • Remember that in the Nineteenth Century, Ukraine was the breadbasket of not just Russia, but also of Europe.

    Blog text (17)
  • This is America's great breadbasket - the Midwest.

  • Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of Africa, producing and exporting vast amounts of food.

    Blog text (18)
  • The drought in America's breadbasket is intensifying at an unprecedented rate, experts are warning.

    Blog text (9)
  • Then there is America's temperate climate and fertile soils that traditionally make it the world's breadbasket.

    Blog text (9)

Synonyms

grainland
vsbreadbasket
3.5

Land used to grow grain like wheat or corn

serves as the main supplier providing most of a country's grain
wheatland
vsbreadbasket
4.0

A large area of land where farmers grow wheat

focuses on supplying most of an area's grain rather than a single crop

How Productive

breadbasket
4 4.4
grainland
3.5

Surface Forms

breadbasket singular
breadbaskets plural

Morphology

breadbasket = bread + basket (semi-transparent) = bread + basket

Metaphorical extension: 'bread' (food/grain) + 'basket' (container) maps to a producing region; the components suggest the meaning but require cultural knowledge.

Etymology

Breadbasket uses the picture of a basket full of bread to show a place that gives a lot of food, so a region that grows most of a country's grain is like a 'basket' of bread for the nation. That's why we call a farming area the 'breadbasket' of a country.