break
break
(brāk) verb
broke (
brōk), broken (brōʹkən), breaking, breaks
verb
, transitive
1.
To cause to separate into pieces suddenly or violently; smash.
2.
To divide into pieces, as by bending or cutting: break crackers for a baby.
3.
To snap off or detach: broke a twig from the tree.
4.
a. To fracture a bone of: I broke my leg. b. To fracture (a bone): I broke my femur.
5. To crack without separating into pieces.
6. a. To destroy the completeness of (a group of related items): broke the set of books by giving some away. b. To exchange for smaller monetary units: break a dollar.
7. To vary or disrupt the uniformity or continuity of: a plain that was broken by low hills; caught the ball without breaking stride.
8. Electricity. To open: break a circuit.
9. a. To force or make a way through; puncture or penetrate: The blade barely broke the skin. b. To part or pierce the surface of: a dolphin breaking water.
10. To cause to burst.
11. To force one's way out of; escape from: break jail.
12. a. To find an opening or flaw in: They couldn't break my alibi. b. To find the solution or key to; uncover the basic elements and arrangement of: break a code; break a spy ring.
13. To make known, as news: break a story.
14. To surpass or outdo: broke the league's home-run record.
15. To overcome (a force or resistance): break the sound barrier.
16. To put an end to by force or strong opposition, especially to end (a strike) by means other than negotiation.
17. To lessen in force or effect: break a fall.
18. To render useless or inoperative: We accidentally broke the radio.
19. To weaken or destroy, as in spirit or health; overwhelm with adversity: "For a hero loves the world till it breaks him" (William Butler Yeats).
20. To cause the ruin or failure of (an enterprise, for example): Indiscretion broke both marriage and career.
21. To reduce in rank; demote.
22. To cause to be without money or go into bankruptcy.
23. To fail to fulfill; cancel: break an engagement; break one's vacation plans.
24. To fail to conform to; violate: break the speed limit.
25. Law. To invalidate (a will) by judicial action.
26. a. To give up (a habit). b. To cause to give up a habit: They managed to break themselves of smoking.
27. To train to obey; tame: The horse was difficult to break.
verb
, intransitive
1.
To become separated into pieces or fragments.
2.
To become cracked or split.
3.
To become unusable or inoperative: The television broke.
4.
To give way; collapse.
5.
To burst: The blister has finally broken.
6.
a. To become punctured or penetrated. b. To intrude on: They broke in upon a heady conversation. c. To filter in or penetrate: Sunlight broke into the room.
7. To become fractured.
8. To scatter or disperse; part: The clouds broke after the storm.
9. Games. To make the opening shot that scatters the grouped balls in billiards or pool.
10. Sports. To separate from a clinch in boxing.
11. To move away or escape suddenly.
12. To come forth or begin from a state of latency; come into being or emerge: A storm was breaking over Miami. Crocuses broke from the soil.
13. To emerge above the surface of water.
14. To become known or noticed: The big story broke on Friday.
15. To change direction suddenly.
16. Baseball. To curve near or over the plate: The pitch broke away from the batter.
17. To change suddenly from one tone quality or musical register to another: My voice broke to a whisper.
18. Linguistics. To undergo breaking.
19. To change to a gait different from the one set. Used of a horse.
20. To interrupt or cease an activity: We'll break for coffee at ten.
21. To discontinue an association, an agreement, or a relationship: The partners broke over a financial matter. One hates to break with an old friend.
22. To diminish or discontinue abruptly: The fever is breaking.
23. To diminish in or lose physical or spiritual strength; weaken or succumb: Their good cheer broke after repeated setbacks.
24. To decrease sharply in value or quantity: Stock prices broke when the firm suddenly announced layoffs.
25. To come to an end: The cold spell broke yesterday.
26. To collapse or crash into surf or spray: waves that were breaking along the shore.
27. Informal. To take place or happen; proceed: Things have been breaking well for them.
28. To break dance.
noun
1.
The act or an occurrence of breaking.
2.
The result of breaking, as a crack or separation.
3.
A beginning or an opening: the break of day; a break in the clouds.
4.
A sudden movement; a dash: The dog made a break toward the open field.
5.
An escape: a prison break.
6.
An interruption or a disruption in continuity or regularity: television programming without commercial breaks.
7.
A pause or an interval, as from work: a coffee break.
8.
A sudden or marked change.
9.
A violation: a security break.
10.
An often sudden piece of luck, especially good luck: finally got the big break in life.
11.
Informal. a. An allowance or indulgence; accommodating treatment: The boss gave me a break because I'd been sick. b. A favorable price or reduction: a tax break for charitable contributions.
12. A severing of ties: made a break with the past; a break between the two families.
13. Informal. A faux pas.
14. A sudden decline in prices.
15. A caesura.
16. Printing. a. The space between two paragraphs. b. A series of three dots ( . . . ) used to indicate an omission in a text. c. The place where a word is or should be divided at the end of a line.
17. Electricity. Interruption of a flow of current.
18. Geology. A marked change in topography such as a fault or deep valley.
19. Nautical. The point of discontinuity between two levels on the deck of a ship.
20. Music. a. The point at which one register or a tonal quality changes to another. b. The change itself. c. A solo jazz cadenza played during the pause between the regular phrases or choruses of a melody.
21. A change in a horse's gait to one different from that set by the rider.
22. Sports. The swerving of a ball from a straight path of flight, as in baseball or cricket.
23. Sports. The beginning of a race.
24. Sports. The separation after a clinch in boxing.
25. Games. The opening shot that scatters the grouped balls in billiards or pool.
26. Games. A run or unbroken series of successful shots, as in billiards or croquet.
27. Sports & Games. Failure to score a strike or a spare in a given bowling frame.
28. Also brake A high horse-drawn carriage with four wheels.
29. Break dancing.
phrasal verb.
break down
1.
To cause to collapse; destroy: break down a partition; broke down our resolve.
2.
a. To become or cause to become distressed or upset. b. To have a physical or mental collapse.
3. To give up resistance; give way: broke down and bought a new car; prejudices that break down slowly.
4. To fail to function; cease to be useful, effective, or operable: The elevator broke down.
5. To render or become weak or ineffective: Opposition to the king's rule gradually broke down his authority.
6. a. To divide into or consider in parts; analyze. b. To be divisible; admit of analysis: The population breaks down into three main groups.
7. To decompose or cause to decompose chemically.
8. Electricity. To undergo a breakdown.
break in
1.
To train or adapt for a purpose.
2.
To loosen or soften with use: break in new shoes.
3.
To enter premises forcibly or illegally: a prowler who was trying to break in.
4.
a. To interrupt a conversation or discussion. b. To intrude.
break into
1.
To interrupt: "No one would have dared to break into his abstraction" (Alan Paton).
2.
To begin suddenly: The horse broke into a wild gallop. The child broke into a flood of tears.
3.
To enter (a field of activity): broke into broadcast journalism at an early age.
break off
1.
To separate or become separated, as by twisting or tearing.
2.
To stop suddenly, as in speaking.
3.
a. To discontinue (a relationship). b. To cease to be friendly.
break out
1.
To become affected with a skin eruption, such as pimples.
2.
To develop suddenly and forcefully: Fighting broke out in the prison cells.
3.
a. To ready for action or use: Break out the rifles! b. To bring forth for consumption: Let's break out the champagne.
4. To emerge or escape.
5. To be separable or classifiable into categories, as data.
6. To isolate (information) from a large body of data.
break through
To make a sudden, quick advance, as through obstruction or opposition. break up
1.
a. To separate into pieces; divide: break up a chocolate bar. b. To interrupt the uniformity or continuity of: An impromptu visit broke up the long afternoon.
2. To scatter; disperse: The crowd broke up after the game.
3. To bring or come to an end: Guards broke up the fight. The marriage broke up.
4. Informal. To burst or cause to burst into laughter.
idiom.
break a leg
Used to wish someone, such as an actor, success in a performance.
break bread
To eat together.
break camp
To pack up equipment and leave a campsite.
break cover
To emerge from a protected location or hiding place: The platoon broke cover and headed down the road.
break even
To gain an amount equal to that invested, as in a commercial venture.
break new ground
To advance beyond previous achievements: a company that broke new ground in the field of computers.
break (one's) neck
To make the utmost possible effort.
break rank or break ranks
1.
To fall into disorder, as a formation of soldiers.
2.
To fail to conform to a prevailing or expected pattern or order: "Architectural experts have criticized the plaza in the past because it breaks rank with the distinctive façades of neighboring Fifth Avenue blocks, whose buildings are flush with the sidewalk" (Sharon Churcher).
break (someone's) heart
To disappoint or dispirit severely.
break (someone's) service Sports
To win a game, as in tennis, served by one's opponent.
break the ice
1.
To make a start.
2.
To relax a tense or unduly formal atmosphere or social situation.
break wind
To expel intestinal gas.
[Middle English breken, from Old English brecan.]
Synonyms:
break, crack, fracture, burst, split, splinter, shatter, shiver, smash. These verbs are compared as they mean to separate or cause to separate into parts or pieces. Break is the most general and like the other members of the set implies either the sudden application of force or the build-up of internal stress: a window broken by vandals; broke her leg; a delicate chair that will break under a great weight. To crack is to break, often with a sharp snapping sound, without dividing into parts: I cracked the platter when I knocked it against the table. The foundation of the house cracked during the earthquake. The soil cracked from the drought. Fracture applies to a break or crack in a rigid body: fractured her skull in the accident; a vertebra that fractured in the fall. Burst implies a sudden coming apart, especially from internal pressure, and the dispersion of contents: The child burst the balloon with a pin. Her appendix burst. Split refers to a division into sections longitudinally or along the direction of the grain: split the log with an ax; frost that caused the rock to split. Splinter implies splitting into long, thin, sharp pieces: The tree was struck by lightning and splintered. Repeated blows splintered the door. To shatter is to break into many loose scattered pieces: The bottle will shatter if you drop it. An exploding gas main shattered the tiles in the courtyard. Shiver is a term rarely encountered outside literary contexts; like shatter, it indicates sudden force that causes fragmentation: "Every statue was hurled from its niche . . . every painted window[was] shivered to atoms" (John Lothrop Motley). "The panels shivering in, like potsherds" (Thomas Carlyle). Smash stresses force of blow or impact and suggests complete destruction: My glasses slipped from my hand and smashed on the floor. The boat was smashed on the rocks. See also synonyms at demote, opportunity.