break

/breik/

Thân thiện

The student takes a short break between classes.

Definition

1. Noun:

   • A fracture or crack: A physical separation into pieces, often due to force.
   • A pause or interruption: A temporary stop in an activity or process.
   • A gap or opening: An empty space or interval.
   • An escape or dash: A sudden, often forceful, attempt to get free.
   • An opportunity or chance: A piece of luck, especially one that leads to success.
   • A change or discontinuity: An abrupt shift in a situation, pattern, or sound.

2. Verb:

   • To separate into pieces: To cause something to fracture, split, or shatter, often violently.
   • To interrupt or stop: To cause an activity, process, or continuity to cease temporarily or permanently.
   • To fail to obey: To violate a law, rule, promise, or agreement.
   • To reveal or make known: To disclose news or information, often suddenly.
   • To weaken or destroy: To overcome someone's spirit, resistance, or health; to cause a collapse.
   • To surpass or do better than: To exceed a previous limit or record.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:

  • There is a break in the pipe. (A crack or fracture)
  • Let's take a short break. (A pause from work)
  • He got his big break in Hollywood. (A lucky opportunity)
  • A break in the clouds allowed the sun to shine through. (A gap or opening)

• Verb:

  • Be careful not to break the glass. (To cause to separate into pieces)
  • The news will break tomorrow. (To become publicly known)
  • He never breaks his promises. (To fail to obey or keep)
  • The scandal could break the company. (To cause to collapse or fail)
  • She aims to break the world record. (To surpass a previous limit)

Advanced Usage

• "Break the ice": To do or say something to relieve tension or get conversation started at the beginning of a social event.

  • He told a joke to break the ice at the meeting.

• "Break even": To reach a point where costs and income are equal, resulting in neither profit nor loss.

  • The new business hopes to break even within the first year.

• "Break ground": To begin construction on a new building; to start something new or innovative.

  • The company will break ground on its new headquarters next month.

• "Break the news": To be the first to inform someone about something, often something unpleasant.

  • The doctor had to break the news to the family.

Variants and Related Words

• Breakage (n): The action of breaking something or the fact of being broken.

  • The insurance covers any accidental breakage.

• Breakable (adj): Capable of being broken easily; fragile.

  • Please handle these breakable items with care.

• Breakout (n): A sudden escape, especially from prison.

  • The prison breakout was front-page news.

• Breakthrough (n): A sudden, important discovery or development that removes a barrier to progress.

  • Scientists announced a major breakthrough in cancer research.

Synonyms

• Noun: Crack, gap, pause, interval, opportunity, chance.
• Verb: Shatter, fracture, split, interrupt, violate, disclose, surpass.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Break down:

  • To stop functioning (for a machine or system).

    • My car broke down on the highway.
  • To lose emotional control; to start crying.

    • She broke down when she heard the tragic news.
  • To separate into smaller parts for analysis.

    • Let's break down the costs for this project.

• Break into:

  • To enter a place by force, usually to steal.

    • Thieves broke into the warehouse last night.
  • To suddenly begin doing something (like laughing, running, etc.).

    • The audience broke into applause.

• Break off:

  • To end a relationship or discussion abruptly.

    • They decided to break off their engagement.
  • To separate a piece from something by breaking it.

    • He broke off a piece of chocolate for me.

• Break out:

  • To escape from a place, especially a prison.

    • Three prisoners managed to break out.
  • To start suddenly (for war, disease, or a skin condition).

    • A fire broke out in the old building.

• Break up:

  • To end a romantic relationship.

    • The couple broke up after five years together.
  • To disperse or cause to disperse.

    • The police arrived to break up the fight.

Related Idioms

• Break a leg!: A way to wish someone good luck, especially before a performance.

  • You're going to be great in the play. Break a leg!

• Break the bank: To cost too much money; to ruin someone financially.

  • Buying that car won't break the bank.

• Break the mold: To do something in a new and different way.

  • Her innovative design really breaks the mold.

• Make or break: Describing a critical moment that will lead to either great success or total failure.

  • This deal is make or break for our startup.

Học thuật

Noun

1. an escape from jail
   • the breakout was carefully planned
2. any frame in which a bowler fails to make a strike or spare
   • the break in the eighth frame cost him the match
3. a sudden dash
   • he made a break for the open door
4. an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity
   • it was presented without commercial breaks
   • there was a gap in his account
5. (tennis) a score consisting of winning a game when your opponent was serving
   • he was up two breaks in the second set
6. the opening shot that scatters the balls in billiards or pool
7. an abrupt change in the tone or register of the voice (as at puberty or due to emotion)
   • then there was a break in her voice
8. the occurrence of breaking
   • the break in the dam threatened the valley
9. breaking of hard tissue such as bone
   • it was a nasty fracture
   • the break seems to have been caused by a fall
10. a time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something
11. the act of breaking something
    • the breakage was unavoidable
12. a pause from doing something (as work)
    • we took a 10-minute break
    • he took time out to recuperate
13. a personal or social separation (as between opposing factions)
    • they hoped to avoid a break in relations
14. (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
    • he studied the faulting of the earth's crust
15. an unexpected piece of good luck
    • he finally got his big break
16. some abrupt occurrence that interrupts an ongoing activity
    • the telephone is an annoying interruption
    • there was a break in the action when a player was hurt

Verb

1. weaken or destroy in spirit or body
   • His resistance was broken
   • a man broken by the terrible experience of near-death
2. diminish or discontinue abruptly
   • The patient's fever broke last night
3. fracture a bone of
   • I broke my foot while playing hockey
4. fall sharply
   • stock prices broke
5. crack; of the male voice in puberty
   • his voice is breaking--he should no longer sing in the choir
6. become fractured; break or crack on the surface only
   • The glass cracked when it was heated
7. happen
   • Report the news as it develops
   • These political movements recrudesce from time to time
8. change suddenly from one tone quality or register to another
   • Her voice broke to a whisper when she started to talk about her children
9. find the solution or key to
   • break the code
10. find a flaw in
    • break an alibi
    • break down a proof
11. undergo breaking
    • The simple vowels broke in many Germanic languages
12. interrupt the flow of current in
    • break a circuit
13. cease an action temporarily
    • We pause for station identification
    • let's break for lunch
14. be released or become known; of news
    • News of her death broke in the morning
15. pierce or penetrate
    • The blade broke her skin
16. become punctured or penetrated
    • The skin broke
17. break a piece from a whole
    • break a branch from a tree
18. go to pieces
    • The lawn mower finally broke
    • The gears wore out
    • The old chair finally fell apart completely
19. separate from a clinch, in boxing
    • The referee broke the boxers
20. make the opening shot that scatters the balls
21. destroy the completeness of a set of related items
    • The book dealer would not break the set
22. exchange for smaller units of money
    • I had to break a $100 bill just to buy the candy
23. do a break dance
    • Kids were break-dancing at the street corner
24. 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
25. emerge from the surface of a body of water
    • The whales broke
26. change directions suddenly
27. reduce to bankruptcy
    • My daughter's fancy wedding is going to break me!
    • The slump in the financial markets smashed him
28. assign to a lower position; reduce in rank
    • She was demoted because she always speaks up
    • He was broken down to Sergeant
29. 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
30. invalidate by judicial action
    • The will was broken
31. cause the failure or ruin of
    • His peccadilloes finally broke his marriage
    • This play will either make or break the playwright
32. happen or take place
    • Things have been breaking pretty well for us in the past few months
33. come forth or begin from a state of latency
    • The first winter storm broke over New York
34. give up
    • break cigarette smoking
35. cause to give up a habit
    • She finally broke herself of smoking cigarettes
36. vary or interrupt a uniformity or continuity
    • The flat plain was broken by tall mesas
37. come to an end
    • The heat wave finally broke yesterday
38. be broken in
    • If the new teacher won't break, we'll add some stress
39. lessen in force or effect
    • soften a shock
    • break a fall
40. curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves
    • The surf broke
41. make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one's own by quitting or fleeing
    • The ranks broke
42. interrupt a continued activity
    • She had broken with the traditional patterns
43. 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
44. come into being
    • light broke over the horizon
    • Voices broke in the air
45. 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't reveal how old she is
    • bring out the truth
    • he broke the news to her
    • unwrap the evidence in the murder case
46. surpass in excellence
    • She bettered her own record
    • break a record
47. fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns
    • This sentence violates the rules of syntax
48. make submissive, obedient, or useful
    • The horse was tough to break
    • I broke in the new intern
49. enter someone's (virtual or real) 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!
    • who broke into my account last night?
50. prevent completion
    • stop the project
    • break off the negotiations
51. force out or release suddenly and often violently something pent up
    • break into tears
    • erupt in anger
52. scatter or part
    • The clouds broke after the heavy downpour
53. move away or escape suddenly
    • The horses broke from the stable
    • Three inmates broke jail
    • Nobody can break out--this prison is high security
54. act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises
    • offend all laws of humanity
    • violate the basic laws or human civilization
    • break a law
    • break a promise
55. destroy the integrity of; usually by force; cause to separate into pieces or fragments
    • He broke the glass plate
    • She broke the match
56. ruin completely
    • He busted my radio!
57. render inoperable or ineffective
    • You broke the alarm clock when you took it apart!
58. become separated into pieces or fragments
    • The figurine broke
    • The freshly baked loaf fell apart
59. terminate
    • She interrupted her pregnancy
    • break a lucky streak
    • break the cycle of poverty

Từ đồng nghĩa

• breakout
• jailbreak
• gaolbreak
• prisonbreak
• prison-breaking
• open frame
• interruption
• disruption
• gap
• break of serve
• fracture
• pause
• intermission
• suspension
• breakage
• breaking
• respite
• recess
• time out
• rupture
• breach
• severance
• rift
• falling out
• fault
• faulting