breaking the fast
Ending overnight abstinence
Breaking the fast is eating the first meal after a period of not eating.
The word breakfast comes from this phrase—the morning meal breaks the overnight fast.
The expression appears in religious contexts where fasting is ritualized: Muslims gather for breaking the fast at sunset during Ramadan.
It can also describe ending any intentional fast: She marked breaking the fast with a simple bowl of soup.
- morningDay's early hours
- mealOccasion for nourishment
- hungryWanting to eat
- empty stomachDigestive tract without food
- eggsReproductive cells in shells
scrambled eggs · toast · dawn · crack of dawn · coffee · Ramadan · iftar · religious observance · eat · juice · orange juice · bacon · sunrise · hunger · table · family table · cereal · nourishment
- High HolidaysRosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, High Holy Days, shofar, machzor
breaking the fastfasting
Deliberate food avoidance
abstaining · starving · going hungry · self-denial · abstention
break, breaking, breaks, broken, breaker, breakers, breakage, unbroken, outbreak