Pronunciations (6)
-
/bɹeɪk/
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
-
[bɹʷeɪ̯k]
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
-
/bɹɛk/
Pronunciation notes
- Northumbria
-
/bɹiːk/
Pronunciation notes
- obsolete
-
/brɛːk/
Pronunciation notes
- Early
- Modern
-
/bɹæɪk/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
- New-Zealand
Verb
To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly.
Usage- ergative
- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
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.
More examples (1)
First, marinate the tofu. In a bowl, whisk the kecap manis, chilli sauce, and sesame oil together. Cut the tofu into strips about 1cm thick, mix gently (so it doesn't break) with the marinade and leave in the fridge for half an hour.
To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly. To crack or fracture (bone) under a physical strain.
Usage- ergative
- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
His ribs broke under the weight of the rocks piled on his chest.
He slipped on the ice and broke his leg.
To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly. To make the first shot; to scatter the balls from the initial neat arrangement.
Usage- ergative
- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
Is it your or my turn to break?
To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly. To divide (something, often money) into smaller units.
Usage- ergative
- Figurative
- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
Can you break a hundred-dollar bill for me?
The wholesaler broke the container loads into palettes and boxes for local retailers.
To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly. To divide (something, often money) into smaller units. To use a high-value denomination of currency, thus necessitating being given change in smaller denominations.
Usage- ergative
- Figurative
- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
I don't want to break my hundred dollar bill.
To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly. To change the orderliness or compactness of an arrangement.
Usage- ergative
- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
The soldier broke formation.
To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly. To disrupt the surface of and turn over the body of a substance.
Usage- ergative
- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
You have to break the soil with the ho.
To cause (a person or animal) to lose spirit or will; to crush the spirits of.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
Her child’s death broke Angela.
Interrogators have used many forms of torture to break prisoners of war.
More examples (3)
The interrogator hoped to break her to get her testimony against her accomplices.
If I had called, and had answered me, yet would I not beleeue that he had hearkened vnto my voice: For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.
An old man, broken with the storms of state, Is come to lay his weary bones among ye; Give him a little earth for charity
To cause (a person or animal) to lose spirit or will; to crush the spirits of. To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
My heart is breaking.
Two days later they transferred her to another prison to separate us. I broke. My life was gone, so I thought.
To cause (a person or animal) to lose spirit or will; to crush the spirits of. To turn an animal into a beast of burden.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
Colonel: See, gentlemen? Any horse could be broken.
You have to break an elephant before you can use it as an animal of burden.
To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
to break flax
To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of. To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose health or strength.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
See how the dean begins to break; / Poor gentleman he droops apace.
To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of. To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
when I see a great officer broke.
To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of. To demote; to reduce the military rank of.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
Sir Reginald Wingate, High Commissioner in Egypt, was happy for the success of the work he had advocated for years. I grudged him this happiness; for McMahon, who took the actual risk of starting it, had been broken just before prosperity began.
And he played no favorites: when his son-in-law sacked a city he had been told to spare, Genghis broke him to private.
One morning after the budget had failed to balance Finanzminister von Scholz picked up Der Reichsanzeiger and found he had been broken to sergeant.
More examples (1)
Not long after this event, Clausen became involved in another disciplinary situation and was broken to private—the only one to win the Medal of Honor in Vietnam.
To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of. To end (something) as a meaningful force.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
break the enemy
To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of. To win a game (against one's opponent) as receiver.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
He needs to break serve to win the match.
More examples (1)
Yet when play restarted the Czech was a train that kept on running over Nadal. After breaking Nadal in the opening game of the final set, he went 2-0 up and later took the count to 4-2 with yet another emphatic ace – one of his 22 throughout.
To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of. To remove one of the two men on (a point).
Usage- Transitive
To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
I’ve got to break this habit I have of biting my nails. Can you break this habit of mine?
to break silence; to break one's sleep; to break one’s journey
More examples (2)
I had won four games in a row, but now you've broken my streak of luck.
Go, release them, Ariel; / My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore.
To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate. To end (a connection); to disconnect.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
The referee ordered the boxers to break the clinch.
The referee broke the boxers' clinch.
More examples (2)
I couldn’t hear a thing he was saying, so I broke the connection and called him back.
to break an electric circuit
To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate. To ruin financially; to harm.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
The recession broke some small businesses.
His actions could break my career.
More examples (1)
With arts like these rich Matho, when he speaks, / Attracts all fees, and little lawyers breaks.
To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate. To end the run of (a play).
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
In July Alexander broke the run and went on tour, as was his custom. He believed in keeping in touch with provincial audiences and how wise he was!
More examples (1)
After Camberwell he broke the play's season and brought it back in the autumn with a few revisions and a noticeably strengthened cast but without any special success.
To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate. Of prices on the stock exchange: to fall suddenly.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
With a few exceptions, stock prices tend to follow the overall market averages. When you have a market decline, therefore, many stocks share the same overall chart pattern. Prices break and go sideways for a period of time.
To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate. To violate a contract or end the applicability of a will.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
He broke the lease.
To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate. To end the continuity or consistency of something.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
She broke the matching set by buying a one of a kind item.
To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate. To fail in business; to go broke, to become bankrupt.
Usage- Intransitive
- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
-
He that puts all upon adventures doth oftentimes break, and come to poverty.
‘I knew he was in some such low way—He broke did not he?’
To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate. To fall out; to terminate friendship.
Usage- Archaic
- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
c. 1700 Jeremy Collier, On Friendship To break upon the score of danger or expense is to be mean and narrow-spirited.
To change a steady state abruptly.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
His coughing broke the silence.
His turning on the lights broke the enchantment.
More examples (1)
With the mood broken, what we had been doing seemed pretty silly.
To change a steady state abruptly. To disrupt a surface.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
The dolphin broke the water by jumping into the air.
To change a steady state abruptly. To make by forcing one's way through.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
It's time to break a trail through the park.
To change a steady state abruptly. To force one's way through.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
Her promotion broke America's racial barriers.
To change a steady state abruptly. To escape.
Usage- Dated
- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
He broke from prison.
She broke jail.
To change a steady state abruptly. To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change gait.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
to break into a run or gallop
To change a steady state abruptly. To (attempt to) disengage and flee to; to make a run for.
Usage- Transitive
- with for
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
As the last firing of the big guns begins to die down, the German light forces still fighting to the west begin to make their choices. Some break for the open sea; others run for the German-occupied coast; still others stand and die. A small group decide to strike their colors, in imitation of three of the larger German ships.
To change a steady state abruptly. To burst forth; to make its way; to come into view.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
The Clouds are ſtill above; and, while I ſpeak, / A ſecond deluge o'er our head may break.
And from the turf a fountain broke, / And gurgled at our feet.
To change a steady state abruptly. To collapse into surf, after arriving in shallow water.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- of a wave of water
- Examples
-
There are many places on the reef that break during the summer.
To change a steady state abruptly. To solve a code or case.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
That news broke the case wide open.
The detectives broke the Hamptons murder.
More examples (1)
It's vital we break the code.
To change a steady state abruptly. To end a fever. To go down, in terms of temperature, indicating that the most dangerous part of the illness has passed.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- of a fever
- Examples
-
Susan's fever broke at about 3 AM, and the doctor said the worst was over.
To change a steady state abruptly. To end a fever. To successfully treat or resist (a fever).
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
The treatment broke my fever.
Carl broke his fever this morning.
To change a steady state abruptly. To end.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- of a spell of settled weather
- Examples
-
The forecast says the hot weather will break by midweek.
To change a steady state abruptly. To begin or end.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- of a storm
- Examples
-
We ran to find shelter before the storm broke.
Around midday the storm broke, and the afternoon was calm and sunny.
To change a steady state abruptly. To arrive.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- of morning
- Examples
-
Morning has broken.
The day broke crisp and clear.
More examples (1)
The day begins to break, and night is fled.
To change a steady state abruptly. To counter-attack.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
The Baggies almost hit back instantly when Graham Dorrans broke from midfield and pulled the trigger from 15 yards but Paul Robinson did superbly to tip the Scot's drive around the post.
To change a steady state abruptly. To disclose or make known an item of news, a band, etc.
Usage- ergative
- Transitive
- Examples
-
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.
More examples (3)
When news of their divorce broke...
Herman's Hermits version of 'I'm Into Something Good' topped the UK charts and also broke the band in the States.
“If something breaks during the day, work hours up until the evening, we’ll cut in — if we’re in the middle of, let’s say, a magazine program or a podcast on tape or a re-air of the game,” Radovich said.
To change a steady state abruptly. To cause, or allow the occurrence of, a line break.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
zero-width non-breaking space
To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
On the hottest day of the year the refrigerator broke.
Did you two break the trolley by racing with it?
To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether. To violate; to fail to adhere to.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
When you go to Vancouver, promise me you won't break the law.
He broke his vows by cheating on his wife.
More examples (3)
to break one’s word
Time travel would break the laws of physics.
Out, out Hyæna; theſe are thy wonted arts, [...] To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray,
To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether. 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.
Usage- Intransitive
- Slang
- Transitive
- Examples
-
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.
To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether. To prove a falsity.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
The detectives will break her alibi.
To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether. To cause (a barrier) to no longer bar; to rupture; to render a barrier ineffective.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
to break a seal
to break the skin
More examples (2)
to break a spell
I'm a riddle so strong, you can't break me
To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether. To cause (a barrier) to no longer bar; to rupture; to render a barrier ineffective. To cause the shell of (an egg) to crack, so that the inside (yolk) is accessible.
Usage- Intransitive
- specifically
- Transitive
To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether. To cause (a barrier) to no longer bar; to rupture; to render a barrier ineffective. To open (a safe) without using the correct key, combination, or the like.
Usage- Intransitive
- specifically
- Transitive
To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether. To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
The cavalry were not able to break the British squares.
To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether. To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce. To cause (some feature of a program or piece of software) to stop functioning properly; to cause a regression.
Usage- Intransitive
- specifically
- Transitive
- in programming
- Examples
-
Adding 64-bit support broke backward compatibility with earlier versions.
To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether. To interrupt (a fall) by inserting something or by being place such that the falling object does not (immediately) hit something else beneath.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
He survived the jump out the window because the bushes below broke his fall.
To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether. To surpass or do better than (a specific number); to do better than (a record), setting a new record.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
He broke the men's 100-meter record.
I can't believe she broke 3 under par!
More examples (1)
The policeman broke sixty on a residential street in his hurry to catch the thief.
To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether. To surpass or do better than (a specific number); to do better than (a record), setting a new record. To do better than a specified value.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
He's hoping to break 90.
To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether. To surpass or do better than (a specific number); to do better than (a record), setting a new record. To get past defenders, resulting in a specified run.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
He broke a thirty-yard run.
To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether. To terminate the execution of a program before normal completion.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether. To suspend the execution of a program during debugging so that the state of the program can be investigated.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
To suddenly become.
Usage- copulative
- Informal
- Examples
-
Things began breaking bad for him when his parents died.
The arrest was standard, when suddenly the suspect broke ugly.
More examples (1)
Like the crash of thunderbolts…, the sound of musquetry broke over the lawn, ….
To suddenly become. To lose a texture. To de-emulsify.
Usage- copulative
- Informal
- Intransitive
- Transitive
- of a sauce or emulsion
- of a liquid
- Examples
-
If you cook it too long, coconut milk will break.
A microwave will create hot spots that can break the sauce.
More examples (2)
Conversely, as the emulsion breaks and the system returns to the original state, energy is released.
When the droplets hit a solid wall the emulsion breaks instantly forming a bitumen on the wall and thus a layer up to 1 cm thick can be sprayed in one operation without requiring drying in between.
To suddenly become. To lose a texture. To become overwhipped and thus lose its texture.
Usage- copulative
- Informal
- Intransitive
- Transitive
- usually
- of whipped cream
- of a liquid
To suddenly become. To become audible suddenly.
Usage- copulative
- Informal
- Intransitive
- of a sound
- Examples
-
c. 1843, George Lippard, The Battle-Day of Germantown, reprinted in Washington and His Generals "1776", page 45
To suddenly become. To become deeper at puberty.
Usage- copulative
- Informal
- Intransitive
- of a male voice
To suddenly become. To alter in type due to emotion or strain: in men, generally to go up, in women, sometimes to go down; to crack.
Usage- copulative
- Informal
- Intransitive
- of a voice
- Examples
-
His voice breaks when he gets emotional.
To suddenly become. To interrupt or cease one's work or occupation temporarily; to go on break.
Usage- copulative
- Informal
- Intransitive
- Examples
-
Let's break for lunch.
To suddenly become. To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate.
Usage- copulative
- Informal
- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
-
Katharine, break thy mind to me.
To open a break-action breechloader.
Noun
An instance of breaking something into two or more pieces.
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
The femur has a clean break and so should heal easily.
A physical space that opens up in something or between two things.
- Examples
-
The sun came out in a break in the clouds.
He waited minutes for a break in the traffic to cross the highway.
An interruption of continuity; departure from or rupture with.
- Examples
-
More examples (2)
Work commenced at 2.30 p.m. on Saturday and continued without break until 4 a.m. on Monday morning, in the course of which three shifts of upwards of 90 men each and three steam cranes were employed.
But the young activists of Move Forward outmanoeuvred the older party, and beat many of its candidates, with an imaginative, social media-based campaign offering voters a complete break with the past, and a different kind of political leadership.
A rest or pause, usually from work.
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
Let’s take a five-minute break.
be on break
More examples (1)
get on break
A rest or pause, usually from work. A time for students to talk or play between lessons.
Usage- UK usage
- Examples
-
It was playtime - or rather ‘break’ - and I had brazenly joined in a game of football on the school parade ground.
A rest or pause, usually from work. A scheduled interval of days or weeks between periods of school instruction; a holiday.
- Examples
-
winter break, spring break
A short holiday.
- Examples
-
a weekend break on the Isle of Wight
A temporary split with a romantic partner.
- Examples
-
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.
- Examples
-
But they marginally improved after the break as Didier Drogba hit the post.
A significant change in circumstance, attitude, perception, or focus of attention.
- Examples
-
big break
lucky break, bad break
More examples (1)
them's the breaks
A sudden fall in prices on the stock exchange.
- Examples
-
Following the invasion of France by the Germans in May of 1940, the securities markets experienced a break in prices.
The beginning (of the morning).
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
daybreak
at the break of day
An act of escaping.
- Examples
-
to make a break for it; to make a break for the door
It was a clean break.
More examples (1)
prison break
The separation between lines, paragraphs or pages of a written text.
- Examples
-
No matter how much text you add above the break, the text after the break will always appear at the top of a new page.
A keystroke or other signal that causes a program to terminate or suspend execution.
A change, particularly the end of a spell of persistent good or bad weather.
Usage- UK usage
A game won by the receiving player(s).
The first shot in a game of billiards.
The number of points scored by one player in one visit to the table.
The counter-attack.
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
Blackpool were not without their opportunities - thanks to their willingness to commit and leave men forward even when under severe pressure - and they looked very capable of scoring on the break.
The curve imparted to the ball's motion on the green due to slope or grass texture.
A place where waves break (that is, where waves pitch or spill forward creating white water).
- Examples
-
The final break in the Greenmount area is Kirra Point.
One of the most popular summer breaks is just off to one side of the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor entrance, a spot called Ala Moana.
The start of a horse race.
- Examples
-
Cigar was distracted at the break and let his five opponents get the jump.
Perhaps it stumbles to its knees at the break, effectively losing the race at the outset.
The opening of packages of cards for a collectible card game, often for further distribution to paying customers.
A large four-wheeled carriage, having a straight body and calash top, with the driver's seat in front and the footman's behind.
Usage- Dated
A sharp bit or snaffle.
- Examples
-
Pampered jades […] which need nor break nor bit.
A short section of music, often between verses, in which some performers stop while others continue.
- Examples
-
The fiddle break was amazing; it was a pity the singer came back in on the wrong note.
More examples (1)
The effect was weird, because with that intuitive sense possessed by the African, every drummer knew exactly when the “breaks” were coming, and whole banks of bass drums would drop out precisely on the beat.
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.
- Examples
-
Crossing the break smoothly is one of the first lessons the young clarinettist needs to master.
The transition area between a singer's vocal registers; the passaggio.
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
34. Of the Registers of the Voice - All singers have observed that there are certain parts of the Vocal Scale where a break, as it is called, seldom fails to occur.
The point of division between the two vocal registers is most frequently referred to as the register’s break.
Boys should continue in their high voice, across the break to the lower range, and end up with a voice that doesn’t have a break (Leck, 2009).
An area along a river that features steep banks, bluffs, or gorges (e.g., Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, US).
Usage- in-plural
An error.
Usage- Obsolete
- Slang
- Examples
-
"Maybe he will some day," says the Missus, and then her and Bessie pretended like they'd made a break and was embarrassed.
A crease or fold arising where the pants leg reaches the shoe.
- Examples
-
A full break or even multiple breaks is an older, more conservative style, as modern pants often end well above the shoe, so there is no break.
Noun
A section of extended repetition of the percussion break to a song, created by a hip-hop DJ as rhythmic dance music.
- Examples
-
The smooth criminal on beat breaks / Never put me in your box if your shit eats tapes
Verb
To B-boy; to breakdance.
Usage- Slang
- Examples
-
Let the poppers pop and the breakers break / We're cool, cool cats, it's like that
To brake.
Usage- Rare
- Examples
-
Breaking heavily, now on a 1 in 39 gradient, the train makes as if to cross the Tamar at once, only to swing sharply to the right, […].
Noun
some abrupt occurrence that interrupts an ongoing activity
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
the telephone is an annoying interruption
there was a break in the action when a player was hurt
an unexpected piece of good luck
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
he finally got his big break
(geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other
- Examples
-
they built it right over a geological fault
he studied the faulting of the earth's crust
a personal or social separation (as between opposing factions)
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
they hoped to avoid a break in relations
a pause from doing something (as work)
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
we took a 10-minute break
he took time out to recuperate
the act of breaking something
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
the breakage was unavoidable
a time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something
- Broader terms
breaking of hard tissue such as bone
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
it was a nasty fracture
the break seems to have been caused by a fall
the occurrence of breaking
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
the break in the dam threatened the valley
an abrupt change in the tone or register of the voice (as at puberty or due to emotion)
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
then there was a break in her voice
the opening shot that scatters the balls in billiards or pool
(tennis) a score consisting of winning a game when your opponent was serving
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
he was up two breaks in the second set
an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
it was presented without commercial breaks
there was a gap in his account
a sudden dash
- Examples
-
he made a break for the open door
any frame in which a bowler fails to make a strike or spare
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
the break in the eighth frame cost him the match
an escape from jail
- Examples
-
the breakout was carefully planned
Verb
terminate or end
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
She interrupted her pregnancy
break a lucky streak
More examples (1)
break the cycle of poverty
become separated into pieces or fragments
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
The figurine broke
The freshly baked loaf fell apart
render inoperable or ineffective
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
You broke the alarm clock when you took it apart!
ruin completely
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
He busted my radio!
destroy the integrity of; usually by force; cause to separate into pieces or fragments
- Examples
-
He broke the glass plate
She broke the match
act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises
- Antonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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offend all laws of humanity
violate the basic laws or human civilization
More examples (2)
break a law
break a promise
move away or escape suddenly
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The horses broke from the stable
Three inmates broke jail
More examples (1)
Nobody can break out — this prison is high security
scatter or part
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The clouds broke after the heavy downpour
force out or release suddenly and often violently something pent up
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break into tears
erupt in anger
enter someone's (virtual or real) property in an unauthorized manner, usually with the intent to steal or commit a violent act
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Someone broke in while I was on vacation
They broke into my car and stole my radio!
More examples (1)
who broke into my account last night?
make submissive, obedient, or useful
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The horse was tough to break
I broke in the new intern
fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns
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This sentence violates the rules of syntax
surpass in excellence
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She bettered her own record
break a record
make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret
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The auction house would not disclose the price at which the van Gogh had sold
The actress won't reveal how old she is
More examples (4)
bring out the truth
he broke the news to her
unwrap the evidence in the murder case
The newspaper uncovered the President's illegal dealings
come into being
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light broke over the horizon
Voices broke in the air
stop operating or functioning
- Broader terms
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The engine finally went
The car died on the road
More examples (4)
The bus we travelled in broke down on the way to town
The coffee maker broke
The engine failed on the way to town
her eyesight went after the accident
interrupt a continued activity
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She had broken with the traditional patterns
make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one's own by quitting or fleeing
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The ranks broke
curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves
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The surf broke
lessen in force or effect
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soften a shock
break a fall
be broken in
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If the new teacher won't break, we'll add some stress
come to an end (of an event)
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The heat wave finally broke yesterday
vary or interrupt a uniformity or continuity
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The flat plain was broken by tall mesas
cause to give up a habit
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She finally broke herself of smoking cigarettes
give up
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break cigarette smoking
come forth or begin from a state of latency
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The first winter storm broke over New York
happen or take place
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Things have been breaking pretty well for us in the past few months
cause the failure or ruin of
- Antonyms
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His peccadilloes finally broke his marriage
This play will either make or break the playwright
invalidate by judicial action
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The will was broken
discontinue an association or relation; go different ways
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The business partners broke over a tax question
The couple separated after 25 years of marriage
More examples (1)
My friend and I split up
assign to a lower position; reduce in rank
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She was demoted because she always speaks up
He was broken down to Sergeant
reduce to bankruptcy
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My daughter's fancy wedding is going to break me!
The slump in the financial markets smashed him
change directions suddenly
emerge from the surface of a body of water
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The whales broke
break down, literally or metaphorically
- Broader terms
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The wall collapsed
The business collapsed
More examples (4)
The dam broke
The roof collapsed
The wall gave in
The roof finally gave under the weight of the ice
do a break dance
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Kids were break-dancing at the street corner
exchange for smaller units of money
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I had to break a $100 bill just to buy the candy
destroy the completeness of a set of related items
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The book dealer would not break the set
make the opening shot that scatters the balls
- Broader terms
separate from a clinch, in boxing
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The referee broke the boxers
go to pieces
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The lawn mower finally broke
The gears wore out
More examples (1)
The old chair finally fell apart completely
break a piece from a whole
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break a branch from a tree
become punctured or penetrated
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The skin broke
pierce or penetrate
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The blade broke her skin
be released or become known; of news
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News of her death broke in the morning
cease an action temporarily
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We pause for station identification
let's break for lunch
interrupt the flow of current in
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break a circuit
undergo breaking
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The simple vowels broke in many Germanic languages
find a flaw in
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break an alibi
break down a proof
find the solution or key to
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break the code
change suddenly from one tone quality or register to another
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Her voice broke to a whisper when she started to talk about her children
happen
- Synonyms
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Report the news as it develops
These political movements recrudesce from time to time
become fractured; break or crack on the surface only
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The glass cracked when it was heated
crack; of the male voice in puberty
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his voice is breaking — he should no longer sing in the choir
fall sharply
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stock prices broke
fracture a bone of
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I broke my foot while playing hockey
She broke her clavicle
diminish or discontinue abruptly
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The patient's fever broke last night
weaken or destroy in spirit or body
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His resistance was broken
a man broken by the terrible experience of near-death
put an end to a state or an activity
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Quit teasing your little brother