break
/bɹeɪk/ verb, noun
Also a form of brake
Forms breaks breaking broke brake broken breakest brokest breaketh breaked
- verb (ergative, transitive, intransitive) To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly. “If the vase falls to the floor, it might break.”
- verb (transitive, intransitive) To crack or fracture (bone) under a physical strain. “His ribs broke under the weight of the rocks piled on his chest.”
- verb (intransitive, billiards, snooker, pool) To make the first shot; to scatter the balls from the initial neat arrangement. “Is it your or my turn to break?”
- verb (figurative, transitive) To divide (something, often money) into smaller units. “Can you break a hundred-dollar bill for me?”
- verb (transitive) To use a high-value denomination of currency, thus necessitating being given change in smaller denominations. “I don't want to break my hundred dollar bill.”
- verb (transitive) To change the orderliness or compactness of an arrangement. “The soldier broke formation.”
- verb (transitive) To disrupt the surface of and turn over the body of a substance. “You have to break the soil with the ho.”
- verb (transitive) To cause (a person or animal) to lose spirit or will; to crush the spirits of. “Her child’s death broke Angela.”
- noun An instance of breaking something into two or more pieces. “The femur has a clean break and so should heal easily.”
- noun A physical space that opens up in something or between two things. “The sun came out in a break in the clouds.”
- noun An interruption of continuity; departure from or rupture with.
- noun A rest or pause, usually from work. “Let’s take a five-minute break.”
- noun (UK, education) A time for students to talk or play between lessons.
- noun A scheduled interval of days or weeks between periods of school instruction; a holiday. “winter break, spring break”
- noun A short holiday. “a weekend break on the Isle of Wight”
- noun A temporary split with a romantic partner. “I think we need a break.”
- noun (music) A section of extended repetition of the percussion break to a song, created by a hip-hop DJ as rhythmic dance music.
- verb (music, slang) To B-boy; to breakdance.
- verb (rare, mainly historical or a misspelling) To brake.
Synonyms
break in contravene crack burst bust shatter shear smash split bisect fracture subject tame go against violate fail go down break down breach gap interruption good luck happy chance fault faulting geological fault shift rupture severance rift
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English breken, from Old English brecan (“to break”), from Proto-West Germanic *brekan, from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”). Doublet of bray.
Cognates of Germanic origin include Scots brek (“to break”), West Frisian brekke (“to break”), Dutch breken (“to break”), Low German breken (“to break”), German brechen (“to break”), French broyer (“to crush, grind”), Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (brikan, “to break, destroy”), Norwegian brek (“desire, yearning”).
Also cognate with Albanian brishtë (“fragile”), Latin frangō (“break, break up, shatter”, verb), whence English fracture and other terms – fragile, frail, fraction, and fragment.
The modern pronunciation shows an irregular change of Early Modern English /ɛː/ to /eɪ/ in the standard language; contrast this with the development of other words such as speak and wreak.
Clipping of breakdown (the percussion break of songs chosen by a DJ for use in hip-hop music) and see also breakdancing.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To strain apart; to sever by fracture; to divide with violence; as, to break a rope or chain; to break a seal; to break an axle; to break rocks or coal; to break a lock. Shak.
- verb To lay open as by breaking; to divide; as, to break a package of goods.
- verb To come apart or divide into two or more pieces, usually with suddenness and violence; to part; to burst asunder.
- verb To open spontaneously, or by pressure from within, as a bubble, a tumor, a seed vessel, a bag. Else the bottle break, and the wine runneth out. Math. ix. 17.
Etymology [OE. breken, AS. brecan; akin to OS. brekan, D. breken, OHG. brehhan, G. brechen, Icel.braka to creak, Sw. braka, bräkka to crack, Dan. brække to break, Goth. brikan to break, L. frangere. Cf. Bray to pound, Breach, Fragile.]
Etymology [See Break, v. t., and cf. Brake (the instrument), Breach, Brack a crack.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “break”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details