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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

luncheon.

A formal meal served in the middle of the day.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈlʌn.tʃən/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. A formal meal served in the middle of the day.

    countable · uncountable
    Most people thought the food at the luncheon was mediocre.
  2. A large, cheap, processed sausage served in thin slices.

    New-Zealand · countable · uncountable
    Ian bought the luncheon since it was on special.
  3. Any midday meal; lunch.

    countable · dated · uncountable
  4. A lump of food.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  5. A portion of food taken at any time except at a regular meal; an informal or light repast.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Of uncertain origin. Possibly derived from an earlier *lumpchin, *lumpchen, a diminutive of lump (“chunk, parcel of food, lunch”), thus related to lunch. It is unclear which came first: whether lunch is a shortening of luncheon, or whether luncheon is an augmentation of lunch. Possibly also a dissimilatory form of or influenced by nuncheon (“light snack taken in the afternoon”). Noun sense 2 (“sausage”) is likely a ellipsis of luncheon sausage or luncheon meat.

verb/ˈlʌn.tʃən/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. To eat luncheon.

    dated · intransitive
  2. To serve luncheon to.

    rare · transitive
Where this word comes from

Of uncertain origin. Possibly derived from an earlier *lumpchin, *lumpchen, a diminutive of lump (“chunk, parcel of food, lunch”), thus related to lunch. It is unclear which came first: whether lunch is a shortening of luncheon, or whether luncheon is an augmentation of lunch. Possibly also a dissimilatory form of or influenced by nuncheon (“light snack taken in the afternoon”). Noun sense 2 (“sausage”) is likely a ellipsis of luncheon sausage or luncheon meat.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.