break

terminate

• “She interrupted her pregnancy”
• “break a lucky streak”
• “break the cycle of poverty”

become separated into pieces or fragments

• “The figurine broke”
• “The freshly baked loaf fell apart”

destroy the integrity of; usually by force; cause to separate into pieces or fragments

• “He broke the glass plate”
• “She broke the match”

render inoperable or ineffective

• “You broke the alarm clock when you took it apart!”

ruin completely

• “He busted my radio!”

act in disregard of laws and rules

• “offend all laws of humanity”
• “violate the basic laws or human civilization”
• “break a law”

move away or escape suddenly

• “The horses broke from the stable”
• “Three inmates broke jail”
• “Nobody can break out--this prison is high security”

scatter or part

• “The clouds broke after the heavy downpour”

force out or release suddenly and often violently something pent up

• “break into tears”
• “erupt in anger”

prevent completion

• “stop the project”
• “break off the negociations”

enter someone''s property in an unauthorized manner, usually with the intent to steal or commit a violent act

• “Someone broke in while I was on vacation”
• “They broke into my car and stole my radio!”

make submissive, obedient, or useful

• “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

• “This sentence violates the rules of syntax”

surpass in excellence

• “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

• “The auction house would not disclose the price at which the van Gogh had sold”
• “The actress won”
• “;”

come into being

• “light broke over the horizon”
• “Voices broke in the air”

stop operating or functioning

• “The engine finally went”
• “The car died on the road”
• “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

• “She had broken with the traditional patterns”

make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one''s own by quitting or fleeing

• “The ranks broke”

curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves

• “The surf broke”

lessen in force or effect

• “soften a shock”
• “break a fall”

be broken in

• “If the new teacher won”
• “ll add some stress”

come to an end

• “The heat wave finally broke yesterday”

vary or interrupt a uniformity or continuity

• “The flat plain was broken by tall mesas”

cause to give up a habit

• “She finally broke herself of smoking cigarettes”

give up

• “break cigarette smoking”

come forth or begin from a state of latency

• “The first winter storm broke over New York”

happen or take place

• “Things have been breaking pretty well for us in the past few months”

cause the failure or ruin of

• “His peccadilloes finally broke his marriage”
• “This play will either make or break the playwright”

invalidate by judicial action

• “The will was broken”

discontinue an association or relation; go different ways

• “The business partners broke over a tax question”
• “The couple separated after 25 years of marriage”
• “My friend and I split up”

assign to a lower position; reduce in rank

• “She was demoted because she always speaks up”
• “He was broken down to Sargeant”

reduce to bankruptcy

• “My daughter”
• “;”

change directions suddenly

emerge from the surface of a body of water

• “The whales broke”

break down, literally or metaphorically

• “The wall collapsed”
• “The business collapsed”
• “The dam broke”
• “The roof collapsed”
• “The wall gave in”
• “The roof finally gave under the weight of the ice”

do a break dance

• “Kids were break-dancing at the street corner”

exchange for smaller units of money

• “I had to break a $100 bill just to buy the candy”

destroy the completeness of a set of related items

• “The book dealer would not break the set”

make the opening shot that scatters the balls

separate from a clinch, in boxing

• “The referee broke the boxers”

go to pieces

• “The lawn mower finally broke”
• “The gears wore out”
• “The old chair finally fell apart completely”

break a piece from a whole

• “break a branch from a tree”

become punctured or penetrated

• “The skin broke”

pierce or penetrate

• “The blade broke her skin”

be released or become known; of news

• “News of her death broke in the morning”

cease an action temporarily

• “We pause for station identification”
• “let”

interrupt the flow of current in

• “break a circuit”

undergo breaking

• “The simple vowels broke in many Germanic languages”

find a flaw in

• “break an alibi”
• “break down a proof”

find the solution or key to

• “break the code”

change suddenly from one tone quality or register to another

• “Her voice broke to a whisper when she started to talk about her children”

happen

• “Report the news as it develops”
• “These political movements recrudesce from time to time”

become fractured; break or crack on the surface only

• “The glass cracked when it was heated”

of the male voice in puberty

• “his voice is breaking--he should no longer sing in the choir”

fall sharply

• “stock prices broke”

fracture a bone of

• “I broke my foot while playing hockey”

diminish or discontinue abruptly

• “The patient”

weaken or destroy in spirit or body

• “His resistance was broken”
• “a man broken by the terrible experience of near-death”

some abrupt occurrence that interrupts

• “the telephone is an annoying interruption”
• “there was a break in the action when a player was hurt”

an unexpected piece of good luck

• “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

• “they built it right over a geological fault”

a personal or social separation (as between opposing factions)

• “they hoped to avoid a break in relations”

a pause from doing something (as work)

• “we took a 10-minute break”
• “he took time out to recuperate”

the act of breaking something

• “the breakage was unavoidable”

a time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something

breaking of hard tissue such as bone

• “it was a nasty fracture”
• “the break seems to have been caused by a fall”

the occurrence of breaking

• “the break in the dam threatened the valley”

the opening shot that scatters the balls in billiards or pool

(tennis) a score consisting of winning a game when your opponent was serving

• “he was up two breaks in the second set”

an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity

• “it was presented without commercial breaks”
• “there was a gap in his account”

a sudden dash

• “he made a break for the open door”

any frame in which a bowler fails to make a strike or spare

• “the break in the eighth frame cost him the match”

an escape from jail

• “the breakout was carefully planned”