Supper vs Dinner

Just to add to your confusion, usage is different in the UK to that in the US and it also varies from area to area in the UK. Here, dinner can describe a midday meal as well as an evening meal but is usually used (in both cases) to mean a more substantial one than either lunch or supper. Our family always used to call the midday meal 'dinner' and the evening meal (which was lighter and eaten at about 7pm about an hour before we children went to bed) as 'supper'. However, there was also 'tea', which was a light afternoon meal (tea, sandwiches and biscuits/cookies or cake) and, when tea got combined with supper, it was called 'high tea'. Many of these terms have dropped out of use in the last 60 years, at least in our family. We now have three main meals - breakfast, lunch and supper - at home, though if we have a meal with friends (not immediate family) it's usually called dinner if its a more formal evening meal. I think that the term 'dinner' has almost dropped out of use for a midday meal, now, in favour of 'lunch', which may be substantial but is always less formal than dinner.

I use the words breakfast, lunch and supper. I never use dinner.

I'm using dinner for night meal. I didn't know that they're different. I thought they're just same

They are used interchangeably in the United States for the last meal of the day.

That is strange. I thought dinner was strictly used for night meal

I learnt too from the comments.. Good post

Probably supper is a light meal after dinner.

Dinner pertains all meals of the day. Thus, one can say, let's dine together at Eat-all-you-can Lunch Buffet. The meals are as follows: Breakfast, Meriencda (snacks), Brunch (midmorning- in case one misses breakfast and needs early lunch), Lunch, Afternoon Snacks (with coffee or tea), Supper, Midnight Snacks. Current lingo implies dinner as supper.

i've always known dinner and supper as the same - the evening meal, which is usually 7 to 7:30pm here. but i eventually learned that in some us states, one can mean lunch and the other the evening meal. i just can't remember which is which. i don't know if it's the same or different in other english-speaking countries.

You are okay Jojo. Some people call it dinner some call it supper. You did nothing wrong.

I say both.What are you baffled.You know what they mean.Supper or dinner the same thing.

@Sojourn I observed that it is used very interchangeably .Earlier it was like Americans would say different and Britishers maintain the protocols but more I interacted online I found these grammar and correct usage of words are perhaps only made for Asians who are forced to speak as right as possible by their strict English teachers of middle and high schools.

I never heard this