break (original) (raw)
break verb (DAMAGE)
break off I picked it up and the handle broke off.
Charles is always breaking things.
She fell and broke her arm (= broke the bone in her arm).
Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples
- breakI didn't mean to break your phone.
- fractureLast year he fractured his skull.
- bustOne of the children has bust the computer.
- shatterThe ball hit the window and shattered it.
- smashI dropped the vase and it smashed.
- snapShe bent the ruler and it snapped.
Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples
- hurtI hurt my arm climbing over the fence.
- injureThe bomb killed ten people and injured many more.
- woundHe was wounded so badly in the attack that doctors said he might never walk again.
- maimThe atrocities have killed or maimed thousands of people.
- tortureThe guards were accused of torturing prisoners.
- stabHe was fatally stabbed with a kitchen knife.
More examplesFewer examples
- Take an egg and break it into the bowl.
- I've broken my leg, so I have to use crutches for a while.
- If you force the zip, it'll break.
- Things got a little wild at the party and three windows were broken.
- His mother scolded him for breaking her favourite vase.
break verb (DIVIDE)
More examplesFewer examples
- An enzyme in the saliva of the mouth starts the process of breaking down the food.
- Vitamin B6 helps build and break down carbohydrates, fats, and protein, and aids in the formation and maintenance of the nervous system.
- The syllabus is broken down into four main areas: reading, writing, listening and speaking.
- The story is broken down into little bits of text to help children read it themselves.
- It's much easier if you break down large projects into a series of small tasks.
break verb (INTERRUPT)
We usually break for lunch at 12.30.
break verb (USE FORCE)
break verb (EMOTION)
break verb (BECOME KNOWN)
break verb (WAVES)
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
break verb (WEATHER)
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
break verb (STORM)
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
break verb (DAY)
break verb (VOICE)
His voice broke when he was 13.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
break verb (TENNIS)
break (serve)
Nadal broke Čilić's serve in the second set.
break verb (TEAM BALL SPORTS)
break verb (POOL/SNOOKER)
Whose turn is it to break?
break verb (BALL)
break verb (HORSE)
Idioms
Phrasal verbs
break noun (OPPORTUNITY)
Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples
- chanceI didn't get a chance to say goodbye.
- opportunityEveryone will get the opportunity to comment.
- breakHer big break came when she was offered a role in a Spielberg movie.
- springboardHe hoped writing an opinion piece for The Times would be the springboard he needed to get into journalism.
break noun (WHAT HAPPENS)
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
break noun (DAMAGE)
There's a break in the pipe.
Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples
- injuryHe was treated for minor injuries.
- woundMost of the casualties had gunshot wounds.
- cutHe walked away from the car crash with only cuts and bruises.
- gashHe was bleeding profusely from a deep gash in his leg.
- scratchShe had little scratches all over her arms.
- lacerationA doctor's report said the laceration had cut the jugular vein.
break noun (END)
make a break (also make the break)
break noun (TENNIS)
Murray must get another break to win.
break noun (POOL/SNOOKER)
break noun (TEAM BALL SPORTS)
break noun (ESCAPE)
break noun (MORNING)
break of day/dawn [ U ] literary
at break of day We set out at break of day.
(Definition of break from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)
break | American Dictionary
break verb (DAMAGE)
[ I/T ] past tense broke us/broʊk/ | past participle broken us/ˈbroʊ·kən/
[ I ] Our toaster broke, so we have to get a new one.
[ I/T ] past tense broke us/broʊk/ | past participle broken us/ˈbroʊ·kən/
[ I/T ] past tense broke us/broʊk/ | past participle broken us/ˈbroʊ·kən/
[ T ] Can you break a $50 bill for me?
break verb (INTERRUPT)
[ I/T ] past tense broke us/broʊk/ | past participle broken us/ˈbroʊ·kən/
break verb (END)
[ I/T ] past tense broke us/broʊk/ | past participle broken us/ˈbroʊ·kən/
break verb (SEPARATE)
[ I/T ] past tense broke us/broʊk/ | past participle broken us/ˈbroʊ·kən/
break verb (NOT OBEY)
[ T ] past tense broke us/broʊk/ | past participle broken us/ˈbroʊ·kən/
He didn’t know he was breaking the law.
break verb (MAKE KNOWN)
[ I/T ] past tense broke us/broʊk/ | past participle broken us/ˈbroʊ·kən/
break verb (MOVE)
Idioms
Phrasal verbs
break noun (OPPORTUNITY)
Getting that first job was a lucky break.
break noun (DAMAGED PLACE)
break noun (INTERRUPTION)
break noun (EARLY MORNING)
We set out at the break of day.
(Definition of break from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
break | Business English
to do something that is against a law, or not do something that you should do or have promised to do:
break the law He didn't know he was breaking the law when he gave her the information.
Can you break a twenty for me, please?
Phrasal verbs
have/take a break We'll work through till lunch but take a short break at 11 o'clock.
We'll be right back after the break.
See also
(Definition of break from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
Examples of break
break
To the extent that conversations are implicitly expected or planned to co-occur with dinners, coffee breaks, or other scheduled activities, they are also temporally constrained.
The data were collected at home parties, lunchtime breaks, and other private venues.
There have been reports of some localised fumarole activity during the past 100 years, and a new lava flow broke out only 20 years ago.
By the end of the century, however, a few women had managed to break the ranks of male professionalism and attain medical degrees.
Three independent branches can be seen: degeneracy has been removed by breaking symmetry through displacement of one of the jets.
Rather, material structure is progressively broken up by increasing shear stresses.
Participants took a break between the two conditions and then completed the other modality, starting again with six new training items.
The fracture pattern of this lithology tends to lead to break up of the cores.
Verbal collaboration also emerged when musical communication was suspended or broke down.
They typically occur at the ends of meetings, often as people are walking out of a room, and even during social breaks.
The voices adopt the rhythm given by the percussion section, and sentences are rendered mechanical by being broken into short pieces.
An innovation that can be broken down or tried out on a partial basis also increases the probability of use and adoption5.
Local relief is characterized by low altitude sedimentary plateaux (chapadas), which are broken by a network of peripheral or intermontane depressions.
The line breaks in the orthographic version may represent places to pause, but they may also represent something else: a point of reflection or intensification.
In the presence of external effects, the duality between these coefficients is broken and local indeterminacy may appear.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
Collocations with break
These are words often used in combination with break.
Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.
Participants were allowed a brief break and were provided with water to drink between blocks.
Or, does the oratorio represent a clean break with the 'didactic' past?
This accessibility entailed a decisive break with the entrenched elitist and esoteric tradition of the occultists and hermeticists.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.