Dictionary Entry
break
break is a 5-letter English word with 112 senses as transitive verb, intransitive verb, noun, and verb in the JumbleFix dictionary. One common meaning is: 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. Face value is 11 in Scrabble and 12 in Words With Friends. Use the entries below when you need a playable sense, a nearby word, or another arrangement of the same letters.
5 letters · Scrabble 11 · Words With Friends 12 · 112 senses
Definitions
- 1transitive 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.
- 2transitive verb
To lay open as by breaking; to divide; as, to break a package of goods.
- 3transitive verb
To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate.
- 4transitive verb
To infringe or violate, as an obligation, law, or promise.
- 5transitive verb
To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate; as, to break silence; to break one's sleep; to break one's journey.
- 6transitive verb
To destroy the completeness of; to remove a part from; as, to break a set.
- 7transitive verb
To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce; as, the cavalry were not able to break the British squares.
- 8transitive verb
To shatter to pieces; to reduce to fragments.
- 9transitive verb
To exchange for other money or currency of smaller denomination; as, to break a five dollar bill.
- 10transitive verb
To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of; as, to break flax.
- 11transitive verb
To weaken or impair, as health, spirit, or mind.
- 12transitive verb
To diminish the force of; to lessen the shock of, as a fall or blow.
- 13transitive verb
To impart, as news or information; to broach; -- with to, and often with a modified word implying some reserve; as, to break the news gently to the widow; to break a purpose cautiously to a friend.
- 14transitive verb
To tame; to reduce to subjection; to make tractable; to discipline; as, to break a horse to the harness or saddle.
- 15transitive verb
To destroy the financial credit of; to make bankrupt; to ruin.
- 16transitive verb
To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss.
- 17intransitive verb
To come apart or divide into two or more pieces, usually with suddenness and violence; to part; to burst asunder.
- 18intransitive verb
To open spontaneously, or by pressure from within, as a bubble, a tumor, a seed vessel, a bag.
- 19intransitive verb
To burst forth; to make its way; to come to view; to appear; to dawn.
- 20intransitive verb
To burst forth violently, as a storm.
- 21intransitive verb
To open up; to be scattered; to be dissipated; as, the clouds are breaking.
- 22intransitive verb
To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose health or strength.
- 23intransitive verb
To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief; as, my heart is breaking.
- 24intransitive verb
To fall in business; to become bankrupt.
- 25intransitive verb
To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change the gait; as, to break into a run or gallop.
- 26intransitive verb
To fail in musical quality; as, a singer's voice breaks when it is strained beyond its compass and a tone or note is not completed, but degenerates into an unmusical sound instead. Also, to change in tone, as a boy's voice at puberty.
- 27intransitive verb
To fall out; to terminate friendship.
- 28transitive verb
An opening made by fracture or disruption.
- 29transitive verb
An interruption of continuity; change of direction; as, a break in a wall; a break in the deck of a ship.
- 30transitive verb
A projection or recess from the face of a building.
- 31transitive verb
An opening or displacement in the circuit, interrupting the electrical current.
- 32transitive verb
An interruption; a pause; as, a break in friendship; a break in the conversation.
- 33transitive verb
An interruption in continuity in writing or printing, as where there is an omission, an unfilled line, etc.
- 34transitive verb
The first appearing, as of light in the morning; the dawn; as, the break of day; the break of dawn.
- 35transitive verb
A large four-wheeled carriage, having a straight body and calash top, with the driver's seat in front and the footman's behind.
- 36transitive verb
A device for checking motion, or for measuring friction. See Brake. 9 & 10.
- 37noun
See Commutator.
- 38noun
an escape from jail
"the breakout was carefully planned"
Synonyms
- 39noun
any frame in which a bowler fails to make a strike or spare
"the break in the eighth frame cost him the match"
- 40noun
a sudden dash
"he made a break for the open door"
- 41noun
the act of breaking something
"the breakage was unavoidable"
- 42noun
an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity
"it was presented without commercial breaks"
"there was a gap in his account"
Synonyms
- 43noun
(tennis) a score consisting of winning a game when your opponent was serving
"he was up two breaks in the second set"
- 44noun
the opening shot that scatters the balls in billiards or pool
- 45noun
a pause from doing something (as work)
"we took a 10-minute break"
"he took time out to recuperate"
- 46noun
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"
- 47noun
a personal or social separation (as between opposing factions)
"they hoped to avoid a break in relations"
- 48noun
an unexpected piece of good luck
"he finally got his big break"
- 49noun
the occurrence of breaking
"the break in the dam threatened the valley"
- 50noun
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"
Synonyms
- 51noun
(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"
- 52noun
breaking of hard tissue such as bone
"it was a nasty fracture"
"the break seems to have been caused by a fall"
Synonyms
- 53noun
a time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something
- 54verb
weaken or destroy in spirit or body
"His resistance was broken"
"a man broken by the terrible experience of near-death"
- 55verb
diminish or discontinue abruptly
"The patient's fever broke last night"
- 56verb
fracture a bone of
"I broke my foot while playing hockey"
Synonyms
- 57verb
fall sharply
"stock prices broke"
- 58verb
make submissive, obedient, or useful
"The horse was tough to break"
"I broke in the new intern"
- 59verb
be broken in
"If the new teacher won't break, we'll add some stress"
- 60verb
crack; of the male voice in puberty
"his voice is breaking--he should no longer sing in the choir"
- 61verb
render inoperable or ineffective
"You broke the alarm clock when you took it apart!"
- 62verb
become separated into pieces or fragments
"The figurine broke"
"The freshly baked loaf fell apart"
Synonyms
- 63verb
destroy the integrity of; usually by force; cause to separate into pieces or fragments
"He broke the glass plate"
"She broke the match"
- 64verb
become fractured; break or crack on the surface only
"The glass cracked when it was heated"
- 65verb
happen
"Report the news as it develops"
"These political movements recrudesce from time to time"
Synonyms
- 66verb
prevent completion
"stop the project"
"break off the negotiations"
Synonyms
- 67verb
terminate
"She interrupted her pregnancy"
"break a lucky streak"
Synonyms
- 68verb
lessen in force or effect
"soften a shock"
"break a fall"
- 69verb
stop operating or functioning
"The engine finally went"
"The car died on the road"
- 70verb
change suddenly from one tone quality or register to another
"Her voice broke to a whisper when she started to talk about her children"
- 71verb
come into being
"light broke over the horizon"
"Voices broke in the air"
- 72verb
find the solution or key to
"break the code"
- 73verb
find a flaw in
"break an alibi"
"break down a proof"
- 74verb
undergo breaking
"The simple vowels broke in many Germanic languages"
- 75verb
interrupt the flow of current in
"break a circuit"
- 76verb
cease an action temporarily
"We pause for station identification"
"let's break for lunch"
- 77verb
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"
- 78verb
be released or become known; of news
"News of her death broke in the morning"
- 79verb
surpass in excellence
"She bettered her own record"
"break a record"
Synonyms
- 80verb
pierce or penetrate
"The blade broke her skin"
- 81verb
become punctured or penetrated
"The skin broke"
- 82verb
break a piece from a whole
"break a branch from a tree"
- 83verb
go to pieces
"The lawn mower finally broke"
"The gears wore out"
- 84verb
ruin completely
"He busted my radio!"
Synonyms
- 85verb
separate from a clinch, in boxing
"The referee broke the boxers"
- 86verb
make the opening shot that scatters the balls
- 87verb
destroy the completeness of a set of related items
"The book dealer would not break the set"
- 88verb
exchange for smaller units of money
"I had to break a $100 bill just to buy the candy"
- 89verb
force out or release suddenly and often violently something pent up
"break into tears"
"erupt in anger"
- 90verb
do a break dance
"Kids were break-dancing at the street corner"
- 91verb
curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves
"The surf broke"
- 92verb
break down, literally or metaphorically
"The wall collapsed"
"The business collapsed"
- 93verb
emerge from the surface of a body of water
"The whales broke"
- 94verb
scatter or part
"The clouds broke after the heavy downpour"
- 95verb
make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one's own by quitting or fleeing
"The ranks broke"
- 96verb
move away or escape suddenly
"The horses broke from the stable"
"Three inmates broke jail"
- 97verb
change directions suddenly
- 98verb
reduce to bankruptcy
"My daughter's fancy wedding is going to break me!"
"The slump in the financial markets smashed him"
- 99verb
assign to a lower position; reduce in rank
"She was demoted because she always speaks up"
"He was broken down to Sergeant"
- 100verb
discontinue an association or relation; go different ways
"The business partners broke over a tax question"
"The couple separated after 25 years of marriage"
- 101verb
invalidate by judicial action
"The will was broken"
- 102verb
interrupt a continued activity
"She had broken with the traditional patterns"
- 103verb
cause the failure or ruin of
"His peccadilloes finally broke his marriage"
"This play will either make or break the playwright"
- 104verb
act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises
"offend all laws of humanity"
"violate the basic laws or human civilization"
- 105verb
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!"
- 106verb
happen or take place
"Things have been breaking pretty well for us in the past few months"
- 107verb
come forth or begin from a state of latency
"The first winter storm broke over New York"
- 108verb
fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns
"This sentence violates the rules of syntax"
Synonyms
- 109verb
give up
"break cigarette smoking"
- 110verb
cause to give up a habit
"She finally broke herself of smoking cigarettes"
- 111verb
vary or interrupt a uniformity or continuity
"The flat plain was broken by tall mesas"
- 112verb
come to an end
"The heat wave finally broke yesterday"
Synonyms
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