From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbreadwinnerbread‧win‧ner /ˈbredˌwɪnə $ -ər/ noun [countable] EARNthe member of a family who earns the money to support the others
Examples from the Corpus
breadwinner• Sure, her management team would be left without a breadwinner.• Its restaurant at the winery has become a $ 5 million annual breadwinner.• Women became breadwinners while their husbands and sons went off to fight.• Two women, both family breadwinners, found the union of help in fighting for the right to be considered for promotion.• There's another kind of breadwinner - women on their own with no regrets.• But when it comes to earning an income, a large percentage still expects the father to be primary breadwinner.• Traditionally, of course, the man is the breadwinner who enhances his desirability by demonstrating his earning prowess.From Longman Business Dictionarybreadwinnerbread‧win‧ner /ˈbredˌwɪnə-ər/ noun [countable] the member of a family who earns the money, or most of the money, to support the othersShe is now the family’s main breadwinner. 