break up

to cause to separate and go in different directions

• “She waved her hand and scattered the crowds”

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”

come apart

• “the group broke up”

break violently or noisily; smash;

make a break in

• “We interrupt the program for the following messages”

cause to go into a solution

• “The recipe says that we should dissolve a cup of sugar in two cups of water”

make into a print

• “print the negative”

take apart into its constituent pieces

destroy the completeness of a set of related items

• “The book dealer would not break the set”

set or keep apart

• “sever a relationship”

attack with or as if with a pickaxe of ice or rocky ground, for example

• “Pick open the ice”

release ice

• “The icebergs and glaciers calve”

close at the end of a session

• “The court adjourned”

bring the association of to an end or cause to break up

• “The decree officially dissolved the marriage”
• “the judge dissolved the tobacco company”

come to an end

• “Their marriage dissolved”
• “The tobacco monopoly broke up”

break or cause to break into pieces

• “The plate fragmented”

cause to separate

• “break up kidney stones”
• “disperse particles”

separate (substances) into constituent elements or parts

laugh unrestrainedly