break
See also: Break
break - English
Pronunciation
- enPR: brāk, IPA: /bɹeɪk/, [bɹʷeɪ̯k]
- (obsolete) enPR: brīk, IPA: /bɹiːk/
- Homophone: brake
Verb
break (third-person singular simple present breaks, present participle breaking, simple past broke or (archaic) brake, past participle broken or (nonstandard) broke)
- (transitive, intransitive) To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly.
- If the vase falls to the floor, it might break.
- In order to tend to the accident victim, he will break the window of the car.
- (transitive) To divide (something, often money) into smaller units.
- Can you break a hundred-dollar bill for me?
- The wholesaler broke the container loads into palettes and boxes for local retailers.
- (transitive) To cause (a person or animal) to lose spirit or will; to crush the spirits of.
- Her child's death broke Angela.
- Interrogators have used many forms of torture to break prisoners of war.
- The interrogator hoped to break her to get her testimony against her accomplices.
- To turn an animal into a beast of burden.
- You have to break an elephant before you can use it as an animal of burden.
- (intransitive) To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief.
- My heart is breaking.
- (transitive) To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate.
- I've got to break this habit I have of biting my nails.
- to break silence; to break one's sleep; to break one's journey
- I had won four games in a row, but now you've broken my streak of luck.
- (transitive, theater) To end the run of (a play).
- (transitive) To ruin financially.
- The recession broke some small businesses.
- (intransitive, obsolete) To fail in business; to go broke, to become bankrupt.
- (finance, intransitive) Of prices on the stock exchange: to fall suddenly.
- (transitive) To violate; to fail to adhere to.
- When you go to Vancouver, promise me you won't break the law.
- He broke his vows by cheating on his wife.
- break one's word
- Time travel would break the laws of physics.
- (intransitive, of a fever) To go down, in terms of temperature, indicating that the most dangerous part of the illness has passed.
- Susan's fever broke at about 3 AM, and the doctor said the worst was over.
- (intransitive, of a spell of settled weather) To end.
- The forecast says the hot weather will break by midweek.
- (intransitive, of a storm) To begin or end.
- We ran to find shelter before the storm broke.
- Around midday the storm broke, and the afternoon was calm and sunny.
- (intransitive, of morning, dawn, day etc.) To arrive.
- Morning has broken.
- The day broke crisp and clear.
- (transitive, gaming slang) To render (a game) unchallenging by altering its rules or exploiting loopholes or weaknesses in them in a way that gives a player an unfair advantage.
- Changing the rules to let white have three extra queens would break chess.
- I broke the RPG by training every member of my party to cast fireballs as well as use swords.
- (transitive, intransitive) To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether.
- On the hottest day of the year the refrigerator broke.
- Did you two break the trolley by racing with it?
- (specifically, in programming) To cause (some feature of a program or piece of software) to stop functioning properly; to cause a regression.
- Adding 64-bit support broke backward compatibility with earlier versions.
- (transitive) To cause (a barrier) to no longer bar.
- break a seal
- (transitive) To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce.
- The cavalry were not able to break the British squares.
- (intransitive, of a wave of water) To collapse into surf, after arriving in shallow water.
- (intransitive) To burst forth; to make its way; to come into view.
- (intransitive) To interrupt or cease one's work or occupation temporarily; to go on break.
- Let's break for lunch.
- (transitive) To interrupt (a fall) by inserting something so that the falling object does not (immediately) hit something else beneath.
- He survived the jump out the window because the bushes below broke his fall.
- (transitive, ergative) To disclose or make known an item of news, a band, etc.
- The newsman wanted to break a big story, something that would make him famous.
- I don't know how to break this to you, but your cat is not coming back.
- When news of their divorce broke, ...
- (intransitive, of a sound) To become audible suddenly.
- (transitive) To change a steady state abruptly.
- His coughing broke the silence.
- His turning on the lights broke the enchantment.
- With the mood broken, what we had been doing seemed pretty silly.
- (transitive, with for) To (attempt to) disengage and flee to; to make a run for.
- (copulative, informal) To suddenly become.
- Things began breaking bad for him when his parents died.
- The arrest was standard, when suddenly the suspect broke ugly.
- (intransitive, of a male voice) To become deeper at puberty.
- (intransitive, of a voice) To alter in type due to emotion or strain: in men, generally to go up, in women, sometimes to go down; to crack.
- His voice breaks when he gets emotional.
- (transitive) To surpass or do better than (a specific number); to do better than (a record), setting a new record.
- He broke the men's 100-meter record.
- I can't believe she broke 3 under par!
- The policeman broke sixty on a residential street in his hurry to catch the thief.
- (sports and games):
- (transitive, tennis) To win a game (against one's opponent) as receiver.
- He needs to break serve to win the match.
- (intransitive, billiards, snooker, pool) To make the first shot; to scatter the balls from the initial neat arrangement.
- Is it your or my turn to break?
- (transitive, backgammon) To remove one of the two men on (a point).
- (transitive, tennis) To win a game (against one's opponent) as receiver.
- (transitive, military, most often in the passive tense) To demote; to reduce the military rank of.
- (transitive) To end (a connection); to disconnect.
- The referee ordered the boxers to break the clinch.
- The referee broke the boxers' clinch.
- I couldn't hear a thing he was saying, so I broke the connection and called him back.
- (intransitive, of an emulsion) To demulsify.
- (intransitive, sports) To counter-attack.
- (transitive, obsolete) To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate.
- (intransitive) To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose health or strength.
- (transitive) To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of.
- to break flax
- (transitive) To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss.
- (intransitive) To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change gait.
- to break into a run or gallop
- (intransitive, archaic) To fall out; to terminate friendship.
- (computing) To terminate the execution of a program before normal completion.
- (programming) To suspend the execution of a program during debugging so that the state of the program can be investigated.
- (computing) To cause, or allow the occurrence of, a line break.
- zero-width non-breaking space
Conjugation
Quotations
- For quotations using this term, see break.
Synonyms
- (ergative: separate into two or more pieces): burst, bust, shatter, shear, smash, split, bisect
- (ergative: crack (bone)): crack, fracture
- (transitive: turn an animal into a beast of burden): break in, subject, tame
- (transitive: do that which is forbidden by): contravene, go against, violate
- (intransitive: stop functioning): break down, bust, fail, go down (of a computer or computer network)
Antonyms
Hyponyms
Hyponyms of break (verb)
- break a leg
- break apart
- break a sweat
- break away
- break bad
- break bread
- break down
- break even
- break ground
- break in
- break into
- break loose
- break new ground
- break off
- break one's fast
- break open
- break out
- break rank
- break someone's heart
- break stride
- break the ice
- break through
- break up
- break wind
- horsebreaking
- unbreak
Derived terms
Terms derived from break (verb)
- a stick in a bundle cannot be broken
- a stick in a bundle can't be broken
- a twig in a bundle cannot be broken
- a twig in a bundle can't be broken
- back-breaking
- bebreak
- break-ax
- break-bones
- break-even
- break-in
- break-off
- break-promise
- break-up
- break-upper
- break-vow
- break-wind
- break a butterfly on a wheel
- break a butterfly on the wheel
- break a butterfly upon a wheel
- break a butterfly upon the wheel
- break a fly on a wheel
- break a fly on the wheel
- break a fly upon a wheel
- break a fly upon the wheel
- breakage
- break a lance
- break and enter
- break ass
- break back
- break bulk
- break camp
- break character
- break cover
- breakdance
- breakdown
- break edge
- breakee
- breaker
- break free
- break gates
- breaking ball
- breaking capacity
- breaking change
- breaking news
- breaking point
- breaking strain
- breaking strain
- breaking wheel
- break into a run
- break it
- break it down
- break it to
- breakle
- break luck
- breakneck
- break no squares
- break one off
- break one's arm patting oneself on the back
- break one's back
- break one's balls
- break one's duck
- break one's fall
- break one's lance
- break one's maiden
- break one's neck
- break one's promise
- break one's stride
- break one's word
- break on the wheel
- breakout
- break ranks
- break rigor
- break sheer
- break shins
- break silence
- break someone's back
- break someone's balls
- break squelch
- break the back of
- break the bank
- break the buck
- break the cycle
- break the deadlock
- break the fourth wall
- break the internet
- break the Internet
- break the mold
- break the mould
- break the news
- break the Sabbath
- break the seal
- break the silence
- break the story
- breakthrough
- break upon the wheel
- break water
- break wedlock
- break with
- buck breaking
- forbreak
- gamebreaking
- ground-breaking
- heart-breaking
- hedge-breaking
- horsebreaking
- icebreaker
- inbreak
- make-and-break
- make-before-break
- make-or-break
- make or break
- mold-breaking
- mould-breaking
- my condom broke
- non-breaking
- one cannot break a stick in a bundle
- one cannot break a twig in a bundle
- one cannot break sticks in a bundle
- one can't break a stick in a bundle
- one can't break a twig in a bundle
- one can't break sticks in a bundle
- outbreak
- overbreak
- rules are made to be broken
- Sabbath-breaking
- sticks and stones may break my bones
- sticks in a bundle cannot be broken
- sticks in a bundle can't be broken
- strike-break
- the straw that broke the camel's back
- upbreak
- you cannot break a stick in a bundle
- you cannot break a twig in a bundle
- you cannot break sticks in a bundle
- you can't break a stick in a bundle
- you can't break a twig in a bundle
- you can't break sticks in a bundle
- you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs
Translations
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Noun
break (plural breaks)
- An instance of breaking something into two or more pieces.
- Synonym: split
- The femur has a clean break and so should heal easily.
- A physical space that opens up in something or between two things.
- A rest or pause, usually from work.
- Synonyms: time-out; see also pause
- Let’s take a five-minute break.
- A short holiday.
- A temporary split with a romantic partner.
- I think we need a break.
- An interval or intermission between two parts of a performance, for example a theatre show, broadcast, or sports game.
- A significant change in circumstance, attitude, perception, or focus of attention.
- big break
- lucky break, bad break
- (finance) A sudden fall in prices on the stock exchange.
- The beginning (of the morning).
- Synonyms: crack of dawn; see also dawn
- at the break of day
- An act of escaping.
- make a break for it, for the door
- It was a clean break.
- prison break
- (computing) The separation between lines, paragraphs or pages of a written text.
- (computing) A keystroke or other signal that causes a program to terminate or suspend execution.
- (programming) Short for breakpoint.
- (Britain, weather) A change, particularly the end of a spell of persistent good or bad weather.
- (sports and games):
- (tennis) A game won by the receiving player(s).
- (billiards, snooker, pool) The first shot in a game of billiards.
- (snooker) The number of points scored by one player in one visit to the table.
- (soccer) The counter-attack.
- (golf) The curve imparted to the ball's motion on the green due to slope or grass texture.
- (surfing) A place where waves break (that is, where waves pitch or spill forward creating white water).
- The final break in the Greenmount area is Kirra Point.
- (horse racing) The start of a horse race.
- (dated) A large four-wheeled carriage, having a straight body and calash top, with the driver's seat in front and the footman's behind.
- (equitation) A sharp bit or snaffle.
- (music) A short section of music, often between verses, in which some performers stop while others continue.
- The fiddle break was amazing; it was a pity the singer came back in on the wrong note.
- (music) The point in the musical scale at which a woodwind instrument is designed to overblow, that is, to move from its lower to its upper register.
- Crossing the break smoothly is one of the first lessons the young clarinettist needs to master.
- (music) The transition area between a singer's vocal registers; the passaggio.
- (geography, chiefly in the plural) An area along a river that features steep banks, bluffs, or gorges (e.g., Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, US).
- (obsolete, slang) An error.
Usage notes
- (short section of music): The instruments that are named are the ones that carry on playing, for example a fiddle break implies that the fiddle is the most prominent instrument playing during the break.
Derived terms
Terms derived from break (noun)
- bathroom break
- beach break
- big break
- bio-break
- bio break
- break-building
- break-bulk
- break clause
- break dance
- break dancer
- break dancing
- break figure
- break movie
- break of dawn
- break of day
- break of gauge
- break point
- break room
- break time
- career break
- catch a break
- century break
- city break
- class break
- clean break
- coffee break
- comfort break
- commercial break
- dam break
- day-break
- daybreak
- double-break
- double break
- double break point
- fag break
- fast break
- fire break
- gimme a break
- give someone a break
- half-break
- hammer break
- harvest break
- have a break
- heartbreak
- jail break
- jailbreak
- leg break
- limit break
- lucky break
- lunch break
- make a break for it
- March break
- maximum break
- mid-term break
- midterm break
- mini-break
- no-break space
- off break
- pawn break
- physical break
- pinky break
- point break
- prison break
- reading break
- reef break
- sand break
- short break
- soft break
- spring break
- station break
- syllabic break
- take a break
- tax break
- tea break
- thermal break
- tie-break
- tie break
- tough break
- water break
- wet break
- wind-break
- wind break
- winter break
- word-break
- word break
- zoo break
Translations
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Noun
break (plural breaks)
- (music) A section of extended repetition of the percussion break to a song, created by a hip-hop DJ as rhythmic dance music.
Derived terms
Verb
break (third-person singular simple present breaks, present participle breaking, simple past and past participle breaked)
- (music, slang) To B-boy; to breakdance.
Related terms
- breaker
Anagrams
break - French
Pronunciation
- IPA: /bʁɛk/
Noun
break m (plural breaks)
- break (pause, holiday)
- Synonym: pause
- C’est l’heure de faire un break. ― It's time to take a break.
- (tennis) break (of serve)
Derived terms
Noun
break m (plural breaks)
- (automotive) estate car, station wagon
- Antonym: berline
break - Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈbrɛk/
Noun
break m (invariable)
- break (intermission or brief suspension of activity)
Interjection
break
- break! (boxing)
break - Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈbɾeik/ [ˈbɾei̯k]
Noun
break m (plural breaks)