break in WordNet English dictionary

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

1. a personal or social separation (as between opposing factions)
   "they hoped to avoid a break in relations"
   rupture  breach  break  severance  rift  falling out 
   
2. the act of breaking something
   "the breakage was unavoidable"
   breakage  break  breaking 
   
3. an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity
   "it was presented without commercial breaks"; "there was a gap in his account"
   break  interruption  disruption  gap 
   
4. a sudden dash
   "he made a break for the open door"
   break 
   
5. the opening shot that scatters the balls in billiards or pool
   break 
   
6. an escape from jail
   "the breakout was carefully planned"
   break  breakout  jailbreak  gaolbreak  prisonbreak  prison-breaking 
   
7. a pause from doing something (as work)
   "we took a 10-minute break"; "he took time out to recuperate"
   respite  recess  break  time out 
   
8. any frame in which a bowler fails to make a strike or spare
   "the break in the eighth frame cost him the match"
   open frame  break 
   
9. (tennis) a score consisting of winning a game when your opponent was serving
   "he was up two breaks in the second set"
   break  break of serve 
   
10. 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"
    interruption  break 
    
11. an unexpected piece of good luck
    "he finally got his big break"
    break  good luck  happy chance 
    
12. the occurrence of breaking
    "the break in the dam threatened the valley"
    break 
    
13. 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"
    break 
    
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"
    fault  faulting  geological fault  shift  fracture  break 
    
15. breaking of hard tissue such as bone
    "it was a nasty fracture"; "the break seems to have been caused by a fall"
    fracture  break 
    
16. a time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something
    pause  intermission  break  interruption  suspension