mealtime
mealtime — noun
1. the regular time during the day when people sit down to eat breakfast, lunch, or
the regular time during the day when people sit down to eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner
In the Watanabe household, mealtime is always at half past six in the evening.
mealtime + be + specific time expression
The kindergarten teacher rang a little bell to signal that mealtime had begun.
signal that mealtime + past verb
During mealtime at summer camp, the children sat at long wooden tables together.
Dr. Chen told Ravi not to eat his food too quickly at mealtime.
Aiko's grandmother says no phones are allowed at the table during mealtime.
- dining time
slightly more formal; often used in restaurant or hospitality contexts
- eating time
more general; can apply to people or animals
- dinner hour
narrower; refers specifically to the evening meal period
文法句型
mealtime + be + time expression
at/during/before + mealtime
it is + mealtime
用法筆記
Often used in fixed prepositional phrases such as at mealtime and during mealtime. Can be countable (when referring to specific meal events: 'the hospital serves food at four mealtimes a day') or uncountable (when referring to the general concept: 'mealtime is a time for family'). Frequently paired with possessive determiners — e.g., our mealtime, family mealtime.