bream

IPA/briːm/
KK[brˈim]IPA/briːm/

bream — noun

  • breamsingular
  • breamsplural

1. a flat-bodied fish that lives in lakes or rivers and is often caught for food

1.nounC1
Definition

a flat-bodied fish that lives in lakes or rivers and is often caught for food

Example

Tamás caught a large bream from the reed bed at sunrise.

collocation: catch a bream

At the market, Sirin asked the fishmonger to clean two fresh bream.

Common collocations
  • catch bream
  • whole bream
  • cook bream
  • river bream
  • shoal of bream
Synonyms
  • carp

    another common freshwater food fish, but usually larger and not the same species

  • sunfish

    an older dictionary overlap in some American sources, but the everyday label can point to several different fish

Grammar Patterns

catch a bream

cook bream

a shoal of bream

Usage Note

Usually names the fish itself, but in cooking it can also mean the meat. Words like whole, clean, fry, and bake often show the food use.

Common Mistakes

We ate a bream fish for dinner.
We ate bream for dinner.
'bream' already names the fish, so adding 'fish' is unnecessary.
The lake is full of sea bream.
The lake is full of bream.
'sea bream' is the saltwater kind, not the freshwater fish in this sense.

2. a sea fish similar in shape to a bream, often sold and cooked as food

2.nounC1
Definition

a sea fish similar in shape to a bream, often sold and cooked as food

Example

Hassan ordered grilled sea bream at the small harbour restaurant.

collocation: grilled sea bream

The menu listed sea bream with lemon, olives, and roasted potatoes.

Common collocations
  • grilled sea bream
  • whole sea bream
  • sea bream fillet
  • buy sea bream
  • fresh sea bream
Synonyms
  • porgy

    a North American market name for related sea fish, though it is not always the exact same fish

  • gilthead

    a more specific trade name for one common type of sea bream

Grammar Patterns

grilled sea bream

buy sea bream

sea bream on the menu

Usage Note

Most everyday uses appear as the phrase sea bream, especially in menus, fish shops, and recipes. Use this sense for the saltwater fish, not the lake or river fish in sense 1.

Common Mistakes

We saw sea bream in the river reeds.
We saw bream in the river reeds.
'sea bream' refers to the saltwater kind, not the freshwater fish.
I ordered bream from the seafood menu.
I ordered sea bream from the seafood menu.
on menus, the sea fish is usually named more fully as 'sea bream'.

bream — verb

Etymology

First known use

14th century

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1 Verb