Noun | 1. | break - some abrupt occurrence that interrupts; "the telephone is an annoying interruption"; "there was a break in the action when a player was hurt" Synonyms: interruption |
2. | break - an unexpected piece of good luck; "he finally got his big break" Synonyms: happy chance, good luck | |
3. | 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" | |
4. | break - a personal or social separation (as between opposing factions); "they hoped to avoid a break in relations" | |
5. | break - a pause from doing something (as work); "we took a 10-minute break"; "he took time out to recuperate" | |
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8. | break - breaking of hard tissue such as bone; "it was a nasty fracture"; "the break seems to have been caused by a fall" Synonyms: fracture | |
9. | break - the occurrence of breaking; "the break in the dam threatened the valley" | |
10. | break - the opening shot that scatters the balls in billiards or pool | |
11. | break - (tennis) a score consisting of winning a game when your opponent was serving; "he was up two breaks in the second set" Synonyms: break of serve | |
12. | break - an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity; "it was presented without commercial breaks" | |
13. | break - a sudden dash; "he made a break for the open door" | |
14. | break - any frame in which a bowler fails to make a strike or spare; "the break in the eighth frame cost him the match" Synonyms: open frame | |
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Verb | 1. | break - terminate; "She interrupted her pregnancy"; "break a lucky streak"; "break the cycle of poverty" Synonyms: interrupt |
2. | break - become separated into pieces or fragments; "The figurine broke"; "The freshly baked loaf fell apart" | |
3. | break - destroy the integrity of; usually by force; cause to separate into pieces or fragments; "He broke the glass plate"; "She broke the match" | |
4. | break - render inoperable or ineffective; "You broke the alarm clock when you took it apart!" | |
5. | break - ruin completely; "He busted my radio!" Synonyms: bust | |
6. | break - act in disregard of laws and rules; "offend all laws of humanity"; "violate the basic laws or human civilization"; "break a law" | |
7. | break - move away or escape suddenly; "The horses broke from the stable"; "Three inmates broke jail"; "Nobody can break out--this prison is high security" Synonyms: break away, break out | |
8. | break - scatter or part; "The clouds broke after the heavy downpour" | |
9. | break - force out or release suddenly and often violently something pent up; "break into tears"; "erupt in anger" | |
10. | break - prevent completion; "stop the project"; "break off the negociations" | |
11. | break - 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!" Synonyms: break in | |
12. | break - make submissive, obedient, or useful; "The horse was tough to break"; "I broke in the new intern" Synonyms: break in | |
13. | break - fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns; "This sentence violates the rules of syntax" Synonyms: go against, violate | |
14. | break - surpass in excellence; "She bettered her own record"; "break a record" Synonyms: better | |
15. | break - 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" | |
16. | break - come into being; "light broke over the horizon"; "Voices broke in the air" | |
17. | break - 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" | |
18. | break - interrupt a continued activity; "She had broken with the traditional patterns" Synonyms: break away | |
19. | break - make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one's own by quitting or fleeing; "The ranks broke" | |
20. | break - curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves; "The surf broke" | |
21. | break - lessen in force or effect; "soften a shock"; "break a fall" | |
22. | break - be broken in; "If the new teacher won't break, we'll add some stress" | |
23. | break - come to an end; "The heat wave finally broke yesterday" | |
24. | break - vary or interrupt a uniformity or continuity; "The flat plain was broken by tall mesas" | |
25. | break - cause to give up a habit; "She finally broke herself of smoking cigarettes" | |
26. | break - give up; "break cigarette smoking" | |
27. | break - come forth or begin from a state of latency; "The first winter storm broke over New York" | |
28. | break - happen or take place; "Things have been breaking pretty well for us in the past few months" | |
29. | break - cause the failure or ruin of; "His peccadilloes finally broke his marriage"; "This play will either make or break the playwright" Antonyms: make - assure the success of; "A good review by this critic will make your play!" | |
30. | break - invalidate by judicial action; "The will was broken" | |
31. | break - 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" | |
32. | break - assign to a lower position; reduce in rank; "She was demoted because she always speaks up"; "He was broken down to Sargeant" | |
33. | break - reduce to bankruptcy; "My daughter's fancy wedding is going to break me!"; "The slump in the financial markets smashed him" | |
34. | break - change directions suddenly | |
35. | break - emerge from the surface of a body of water; "The whales broke" | |
36. | break - 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" | |
37. | break - do a break dance; "Kids were break-dancing at the street corner" Synonyms: break dance, break-dance | |
38. | break - exchange for smaller units of money; "I had to break a $100 bill just to buy the candy" | |
39. | break - destroy the completeness of a set of related items; "The book dealer would not break the set" Synonyms: break up | |
40. | break - make the opening shot that scatters the balls | |
41. | break - separate from a clinch, in boxing; "The referee broke the boxers" | |
42. | break - go to pieces; "The lawn mower finally broke"; "The gears wore out"; "The old chair finally fell apart completely" | |
43. | break - break a piece from a whole; "break a branch from a tree" | |
44. | break - become punctured or penetrated; "The skin broke" | |
45. | break - pierce or penetrate; "The blade broke her skin" | |
46. | break - be released or become known; of news; "News of her death broke in the morning" Synonyms: get around, get out | |
47. | break - cease an action temporarily; "We pause for station identification"; "let's break for lunch" | |
48. | break - interrupt the flow of current in; "break a circuit" | |
49. | break - undergo breaking; "The simple vowels broke in many Germanic languages" | |
50. | break - find a flaw in; "break an alibi"; "break down a proof" | |
51. | break - find the solution or key to; "break the code" | |
52. | break - change suddenly from one tone quality or register to another; "Her voice broke to a whisper when she started to talk about her children" | |
53. | break - happen; "Report the news as it develops"; "These political movements recrudesce from time to time" Synonyms: recrudesce, develop | |
54. | break - become fractured; break or crack on the surface only; "The glass cracked when it was heated" | |
55. | break - of the male voice in puberty; "his voice is breaking--he should no longer sing in the choir" | |
56. | break - fall sharply; "stock prices broke" | |
57. | break - fracture a bone of; "I broke my foot while playing hockey" Synonyms: fracture | |
58. | break - diminish or discontinue abruptly; "The patient's fever broke last night" | |
59. | break - weaken or destroy in spirit or body; "His resistance was broken"; "a man broken by the terrible experience of near-death" |
1. | break - To cause to be broken (in any sense). "Your latest patch to the editor broke the paragraph commands." | ||
2. | break - (Of a program) To stop temporarily, so that it may debugged. The place where it stops is a "breakpoint". | ||
3. | break - To send an EIA-232 break (two character widths of line high) over a serial line. | ||
4. | break - [Unix] To strike whatever key currently causes the tty driver to send SIGINT to the current process. Normally, break, delete or control-C does this. | ||
5. | break - "break break" may be said to interrupt a conversation (this is an example of verb doubling). This usage comes from radio communications, which in turn probably came from landline telegraph/teleprinter usage, as badly abused in the Citizen's Band craze a few years ago. | ||
6. | break - pipeline break. |