How to Use meal ticket in a Sentence

meal ticket

noun
  • We bought three meal tickets at the fair.
  • An advanced degree was his meal ticket.
  • There was also the shame of walking down the hall to claim his free meal tickets.
    — Sarah Matusek, The Christian Science Monitor, 3 July 2024
  • Archie shows up just then to claim his sister—otherwise known as his meal ticket.
    — Elizabeth Angell, Town & Country, 11 Dec. 2017
  • The young ones saw me as a meal ticket, and the older men saw me as their Lolita.
    — Jennifer Vally, Los Angeles Times, 10 Feb. 2023
  • Robert Wagner's the guy who pays him … that's his meal ticket.
    — Erin Moriarty, CBS News, 4 Feb. 2018
  • Still, Chubb is this team’s meal ticket on offense for the first three months of the season.
    — Dan Labbe, cleveland, 8 Sep. 2022
  • That shot’s either going to be his meal ticket or his ticket outta town.
    — Sean Keeler, The Denver Post, 21 Oct. 2024
  • Deprived of his meal ticket, Robin sees no reason to remain in the city.
    — John Swansburg, The Atlantic, 15 June 2026
  • Defense has been the meal ticket this season for the Cyclones.
    — Jeremy Cluff, The Arizona Republic, 21 Mar. 2022
  • That prime placement on a popular search query is Bryan’s meal ticket.
    — Will Oremus, Washington Post, 26 June 2024
  • One wall is covered with meal tickets that customers have already paid for, hoping to help the next person in need.
    — Jenna Thompson, Kansas City Star, 17 Apr. 2024
  • Macrinus owns gladiators and sees Lucius as the meal ticket for his greater plans.
    — Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 20 Nov. 2024
  • There were hints of potential trouble — he was often said to be drunk on camera — but few dared to mess with their meal tickets, so to speak.
    — Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune, 4 Feb. 2026
  • Free meal tickets will be available for the first 50 participants.
    — Nollyanne Delacruz, Mercury News, 14 Oct. 2025
  • An indie rock band struggling to make its mark finds a possible meal ticket in an infectious new guitar riff.
    — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 16 Apr. 2026
  • Tight ends are meal tickets in crunch time A Batman always needs his Robin in a passing league.
    — Nate Atkins, The Indianapolis Star, 25 Jan. 2024
  • Is that inherited from this notion that a male’s attention was your meal ticket and your survival?
    — Jessica Radloff, Glamour, 3 Nov. 2017
  • His meal ticket of an instrument, though, sets him apart as much as his attraction to classic arrangements does.
    — Los Angeles Times, 18 Oct. 2019
  • Each $10 ticket includes meal ticket, trick-or-treat bag, candy, wizard stickers, and a wand and donut.
    — Joey Morona, cleveland, 5 Oct. 2019
  • Said meal ticket is having trouble sleeping and insists to Kate that she's being followed.
    — Sara Netzley, EW.com, 9 Mar. 2023
  • Each student received a meal ticket to redeem at a concession stand, and the school district paid for an ice cream truck to stop by as kids left, arms full.
    — Slade Rand, courant.com, 19 Aug. 2019
  • One America News Network just had its last major meal ticket ripped up.
    — Rob Pegoraro, PCMAG, 22 July 2022
  • The Cohen-Cuomo tape makes clear Daniel claim is dead and with it Avenati’s [sic] meal ticket.
    — Brooke Singman, Fox News, 27 July 2018
  • Football can become a meal ticket as far as getting a quality education.
    — Emmett Hall, Sun Sentinel, 17 Nov. 2022
  • Smith could have used a few more Mo-Mo’s in her life — people who saw her more as a person and less as a meal ticket or projection of their own desires.
    — Chris Vognar, Rolling Stone, 16 May 2023
  • Money should be used to fund facilities that care for the elderly and the veterans, not outsiders looking for a free meal ticket and housing.
    — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 15 May 2024
  • Rosetta, who had worked at our hospital for more than 20 years, found a way to provide meal tickets for a visiting family who couldn’t afford food.
    — Neil Prose, STAT, 5 Feb. 2020
  • Ya-Ya raises an eyebrow and tells her, so Eve races to a graveyard in the middle of the pouring rain, looking for help so her meal ticket doesn’t cash out on her.
    — Erin Qualey, Vulture, 2 Oct. 2024
  • With this money, Johnson and fellow nurses provide up to two $7 cafeteria meal tickets per day to families.
    — Laura Berrios, AJC.com, 7 May 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'meal ticket.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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