Meanings
plural TV dinners
- A prepackaged meal purchased chilled or frozen and heated at home.
Like foil-tray frozen meals, which were used by airlines before Swanson branded them as “TV dinners,” Twitter was not initially invented to be an adjunct to the tube.
2023 July 10, James Poniewozik, “The Twitter Watch Party Is Over”, in The New York TimesSynonyms: microwave meal, ready meal
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA prepackaged meal purchased chilled or frozen and heated at home.
Origin
Originally used for a brand of packaged meal (TV Brand Frozen Dinner) developed in 1953 for Swanson & Sons.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
TV dinner. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/TV%20dinner
“TV dinner.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/TV%20dinner. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “TV dinner,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/TV%20dinner.
Source: TV dinner on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.