break
IPA: brˈeɪk
noun
- An instance of breaking something into two or more pieces.
- A physical space that opens up in something or between two things.
- An interruption of continuity; departure from or rupture with.
- A rest or pause, usually from work.
- (UK, education) A time for students to talk or play between lessons.
- A scheduled interval of days or weeks between periods of school instruction; a holiday.
- A short holiday.
- A temporary split with a romantic partner.
- An interval or intermission between two parts of a performance, for example a theatre show, broadcast, or sports game.
- A significant change in circumstance, attitude, perception, or focus of attention.
- (finance) A sudden fall in prices on the stock exchange.
- The beginning (of the morning).
- An act of escaping.
- (computing) The separation between lines, paragraphs or pages of a written text.
- (computing) A keystroke or other signal that causes a program to terminate or suspend execution.
- (Britain, weather) A change, particularly the end of a spell of persistent good or bad weather.
- (sports and games):
- (tennis) A game won by the receiving player(s).
- (billiards, snooker, pool) The first shot in a game of billiards.
- (snooker) The number of points scored by one player in one visit to the table.
- (soccer) The counter-attack.
- (golf) The curve imparted to the ball's motion on the green due to slope or grass texture.
- (surfing) A place where waves break (that is, where waves pitch or spill forward creating white water).
- (horse racing) The start of a horse race.
- (dated) A large four-wheeled carriage, having a straight body and calash top, with the driver's seat in front and the footman's behind.
- (equitation) A sharp bit or snaffle.
- (music) A short section of music, often between verses, in which some performers stop while others continue.
- (music) The point in the musical scale at which a woodwind instrument is designed to overblow, that is, to move from its lower to its upper register.
- (music) The transition area between a singer's vocal registers; the passaggio.
- (geography, chiefly in the plural) An area along a river that features steep banks, bluffs, or gorges (e.g., Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, US).
- (obsolete, slang) An error.
- (music) A section of extended repetition of the percussion break to a song, created by a hip-hop DJ as rhythmic dance music.
- (programming) Short for breakpoint. [(programming) A point in a program at which operation may be interrupted during debugging so that the state of the program at that point can be investigated.]
- Alternative form of brake (“cart or carriage without a body, for breaking in horses”) [A device used to slow or stop the motion of a wheel, or of a vehicle, usually by friction (although other resistive forces, such as electromagnetic fields or aerodynamic drag, can also be used); also, the controls or apparatus used to engage such a mechanism such as the pedal in a car.]
verb
- (transitive, intransitive) To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly.
- (transitive, intransitive) To crack or fracture (bone) under a physical strain.
- (transitive) To divide (something, often money) into smaller units.
- (transitive) To cause (a person or animal) to lose spirit or will; to crush the spirits of.
- To turn an animal into a beast of burden.
- (intransitive) To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief.
- (transitive) To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate.
- (transitive, theater) To end the run of (a play).
- (transitive) To ruin financially.
- (intransitive, obsolete) To fail in business; to go broke, to become bankrupt.
- (finance, intransitive) Of prices on the stock exchange: to fall suddenly.
- (transitive) To violate; to fail to adhere to.
- (intransitive, of a fever) To go down, in terms of temperature, indicating that the most dangerous part of the illness has passed.
- (intransitive, of a spell of settled weather) To end.
- (intransitive, of a storm) To begin or end.
- (intransitive, of morning, dawn, day etc.) To arrive.
- (transitive, gaming slang) To render (a game) unchallenging by altering its rules or exploiting loopholes or weaknesses in them in a way that gives a player an unfair advantage.
- (transitive, intransitive) To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether.
- (specifically, in programming) To cause (some feature of a program or piece of software) to stop functioning properly; to cause a regression.
- (transitive) To cause (a barrier) to no longer bar.
- (specifically) To cause the shell of (an egg) to crack, so that the inside (yolk) is accessible.
- (specifically) To open (a safe) without using the correct key, combination, or the like.
- (transitive) To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce.
- (intransitive, of a wave of water) To collapse into surf, after arriving in shallow water.
- (intransitive) To burst forth; to make its way; to come into view.
- (intransitive) To interrupt or cease one's work or occupation temporarily; to go on break.
- (transitive) To interrupt (a fall) by inserting something so that the falling object does not (immediately) hit something else beneath.
- (transitive, ergative) To disclose or make known an item of news, a band, etc.
- (intransitive, of a sound) To become audible suddenly.
- (transitive) To change a steady state abruptly.
- (transitive, with for) To (attempt to) disengage and flee to; to make a run for.
- (copulative, informal) To suddenly become.
- (intransitive, of a male voice) To become deeper at puberty.
- (intransitive, of a voice) To alter in type due to emotion or strain: in men, generally to go up, in women, sometimes to go down; to crack.
- (transitive) To surpass or do better than (a specific number); to do better than (a record), setting a new record.
- (sports and games):
- (transitive, tennis) To win a game (against one's opponent) as receiver.
- (intransitive, billiards, snooker, pool) To make the first shot; to scatter the balls from the initial neat arrangement.
- (transitive, backgammon) To remove one of the two men on (a point).
- (transitive, military, most often in the passive tense) To demote; to reduce the military rank of.
- (transitive) To end (a connection); to disconnect.
- (intransitive, of an emulsion) To demulsify.
- (intransitive, sports) To counter-attack.
- (transitive, obsolete) To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate.
- (intransitive) To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose health or strength.
- (transitive) To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of.
- (transitive) To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss.
- (intransitive) To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change gait.
- (intransitive, archaic) To fall out; to terminate friendship.
- (computing) To terminate the execution of a program before normal completion.
- (programming) To suspend the execution of a program during debugging so that the state of the program can be investigated.
- (computing) To cause, or allow the occurrence of, a line break.
- (music, slang) To B-boy; to breakdance.
- (rare, mainly historical) To brake.
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Examples of "break" in Sentences
- It breaks the flow of the prose.
- It breaks the flow of the narrative.
- I wish you a restful and relaxing break.
- It is breaking the stillness of the occasion.
- Here's wishing you a restful and relaxing break
- I hope all is well with you and that you had a restful break.
- Link breaks the curse, but cannot stop the tree from withering.
- Maybe he is the one who needs a break to stop being so callous.
- The Cubicle became the industry standard to stop the mental breaks.
- A new paper posits that our constant fluttering is actually a form of wakeful rest, or a mental break between thoughts.
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