View source for break

{{BNC1000HW}}

=== Pronunciation ===
* {{enPR|/brāk/}} {{IPA|/breɪk/}}
* {{SAMPA|/breIk/}}
* {{audio|en-us-break.ogg|US}}
* {{hmp|brake}}

== Verb ==
{{verb2|break|breaks|broke|broken|breaking}}
# {{ti verb}} If you '''break''' something, you make it come apart in a way that cannot easily be put back together, usually by force.
#: ''He injured his leg and '''broke''' his arm during the crash.''
#: ''When my brother died, my family '''broke''' apart.''
#: ''The airplane '''broke''' apart in the sky over Hawai'i.''
#: ''When the ice '''broke''' underneath me, I said to myself, I'm in trouble.''
# {{ti verb}} If something such as a machine '''breaks''', it stops [[work]]ing because something is wrong.
#: ''My car '''breaks''' down about once a week.''
# {{transitive}} If you '''break''' a [[law]], [[rule]], [[promise]], etc. you do something that you should not do.
#: ''The police can't do anything if no laws are '''broken'''.''
#: ''These are the rules. Don't '''break''' the rules and I won't send you home.''
# {{transitive}} If you '''break''' a surface, limit, record, etc., you go [[beyond]] it.
#: ''In 1954 he set a new record of 3:59.4, '''breaking''' the old record by more than five minutes.''
#: ''Wilson '''broke''' barriers for women in journalism at a time when newsrooms were mostly male.''
# {{intransitive}} If you '''break''' free or out of something, you could not leave but now you leave.
#: ''The police are looking for some prisoners who '''broke''' out of the jail.''
#: ''One of the dogs '''broke''' loose and ran at her.''
#: ''When she closed the door, everyone '''broke''' into laughter.''
# {{intransitive}} If you '''break''', you stop for a short time to [[rest]].
#: ''We break for coffee at 10:00 every morning.''
# {{intransitive}} If day or morning '''breaks''', it begins.
#: ''The day was '''breaking''' as they packed up the tent.''
#: ''Dawn was just '''breaking''' when Helga Schneider climbed out of bed.''
# {{ti verb}} If you '''break''' something, you stop it suddenly.
#: ''The sound of the door closing '''broke''' the silence.''
#: ''I didn't know my father, but with my son, I want to '''break''' that cycle of fathers leaving their sons.''
#: ''The show had been so magical that people didn't want to leave the theater, didn't want to '''break''' the spell.''
#: ''Smoking is such a hard habit to '''break'''.''
#: ''Mike had to leave to '''break''' up a fight between Ronni and Bridget.''
#: ''The rain finally '''broke''' on Monday evening.''
# {{intransitive}} If news '''breaks''', it becomes known.
# {{intransitive}} If your [[voice]] '''breaks''', it changes because you are almost [[cry]]ing.
#: ''"I wanted to say goodbye before he died", she said, her voice '''breaking'''.''
# {{transitive}} If you '''break''' some [[money]], you [[change]] a note into coins.
#: ''I don't want to '''break''' a twenty just to buy matches.''

=== Synonyms ===
* [[stop]]
* [[end]]
* [[damage]]
* [[split]]

=== Related words ===
{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
* [[breakage]]
* [[breaker]]
* [[outbreak]]
* [[unbreakable]]
* [[unbroken]]
* [[break a leg]]
* [[break a sweat]]
* [[break away]]
* [[break bread]]
* [[break character]]
* [[break down]]
* [[break even]]
* [[break free]]
* [[break ground]]
* [[break in]]
{{col-break}}
* [[break off]]
* [[break out]]
* [[break rank]]
* [[break room]]
* [[break someone's heart]]
* [[break the bank]]
* [[break the ice]]
* [[break the law]]
* [[break up]]
* [[break wind]]
{{col-end}}

== Noun ==
{{noun}}
# {{countable}} A '''break''' is a time when something stops before starting again.
#: ''We get a 15-minute '''break''' in the middle of the morning.''
#: ''I'll phone you during my lunch '''break'''.''
#: ''We're going to take a one-minute commercial '''break''' and we'll be right back.''
# {{countable}} A '''break''' (up) is an end of a [[relationship]].
#: ''We didn't see each other for years after the '''break''' up.''
# {{countable}} A '''break''' is a space between something continuous.
#: ''The sun shone through a '''break''' in the clouds.''
# {{countable}} A '''break''' is a situation in which things are not as difficult.
#: ''That job opening up just when she finished school was a lucky '''break''' for her.''
#: ''Give me a '''break'''.''
#: ''The new law would give middle-income families a $2,000 tax '''break'''.''
# {{countable}} A '''break''' is a place where something is broken.
#: ''The '''break''' in his leg could be seen clearly on the x-ray.''

<gallery>
File:Taekwondo1.jpg|Somebody '''breaking''' some [[wood]]
File:Water ballon exploding.jpg|A water [[balloon]] '''breaking'''
File:Supersonic aircraft breaking sound barrier.jpg|A [[plane]] '''breaking''' the sound [[barrier]]
File:Gentle waves come in at a sandy beach.JPG|{{lc|Wave}}s '''breaking'''
File:MolaMolaDorsalFin.jpg|Part of a fish '''breaking''' the [[surface]] of the water
</gallery>

=== Synonyms ===
* [[space]]
* [[rest]]
* [[chance]]
* [[opportunity]]

=== Antonyms ===
* [[fix]]
* [[mend]]

=== Related words and phrases ===
* [[give somebody a break]]

[[Category:Rest]]