Break

Acceptable For Game Play - US & UK word lists

This word is acceptable for play in the US & UK dictionaries that are being used in the following games:

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
  • v. To cause to separate into pieces suddenly or violently; smash.
  • v. To divide into pieces, as by bending or cutting: break crackers for a baby.
  • v. To separate into components or parts: broke the work into discrete tasks.
  • v. To snap off or detach: broke a twig from the tree.
  • v. To fracture a bone of: I broke my leg.
  • v. To fracture (a bone): I broke my femur.
  • v. To crack without separating into pieces.
  • v. To destroy the completeness of (a group of related items): broke the set of books by giving some away.
  • v. To exchange for smaller monetary units: break a dollar.
  • v. To vary or disrupt the uniformity or continuity of: a plain that was broken by low hills; caught the ball without breaking stride.
  • v. Electricity To render (a circuit) inoperative by disruption; open.
  • v. To force or make a way through; puncture or penetrate: The blade barely broke the skin.
  • v. To part or pierce the surface of: a dolphin breaking water.
  • v. To produce (a sweat) copiously on the skin, as from exercise.
  • v. To force one's way out of; escape from: break jail.
  • v. To make or bring about by cutting or forcing: break a trail through the woods.
  • v. To find an opening or flaw in: They couldn't break my alibi.
  • v. To find the solution or key to; uncover the basic elements and arrangement of: break a code; break a spy ring.
  • v. To make known, as news: break a story.
  • v. To surpass or outdo: broke the league's home-run record.
  • v. To overcome or put an end to, especially by force or strong opposition: break a deadlock in negotiations; break a strike.
  • v. Sports To win a game on (an opponent's service), as in tennis.
  • v. To lessen the force or effect of: break a fall.
  • v. To render useless or inoperative: We accidentally broke the radio.
  • v. To weaken or destroy, as in spirit or health; overwhelm with adversity: "For a hero loves the world till it breaks him” ( William Butler Yeats).
  • v. To cause the ruin or failure of (an enterprise, for example): Indiscretion broke both marriage and career.
  • v. To reduce in rank; demote.
  • v. To cause to be without money or to go into bankruptcy.
  • v. To fail to fulfill; cancel: break an engagement.
  • v. To fail to conform to; violate: break the speed limit.
  • v. Law To invalidate (a will) by judicial action.
  • v. To give up (a habit).
  • v. To cause to give up a habit: They managed to break themselves of smoking.
  • v. To train to obey; tame: The horse was difficult to break.
  • verb-intransitive. To become separated into pieces or fragments.
  • verb-intransitive. To become cracked or split.
  • verb-intransitive. To become fractured: His arm broke from the fall.
  • verb-intransitive. To become unusable or inoperative: The television broke.
  • verb-intransitive. To give way; collapse: The scaffolding broke during the storm.
  • verb-intransitive. To burst: The blister broke.
  • verb-intransitive. To intrude: They broke in upon our conversation.
  • verb-intransitive. To filter in or penetrate: Sunlight broke into the room.
  • verb-intransitive. To scatter or disperse; part: The clouds broke after the storm.
  • verb-intransitive. Games To make the opening shot that scatters the grouped balls in billiards or pool.
  • verb-intransitive. Sports To separate from a clinch in boxing.
  • verb-intransitive. Sports To win a game on the opponent's service, as in tennis: broke twice in the first set.
  • verb-intransitive. To move away or escape suddenly: broke from his grip and ran off.
  • verb-intransitive. To come forth or begin from a state of latency; come into being or emerge: A storm was breaking over Miami. Crocuses broke from the soil.
  • verb-intransitive. To emerge above the surface of water.
  • verb-intransitive. To become known or noticed: The big story broke on Friday.
  • verb-intransitive. To change direction or move suddenly: The quarterback broke to the left to avoid a tackler.
  • verb-intransitive. Baseball To curve near or over the plate: The pitch broke away from the batter.
  • verb-intransitive. To change suddenly from one tone quality or musical register to another: His voice broke into a falsetto.
  • verb-intransitive. Linguistics To undergo breaking.
  • verb-intransitive. To change to a gait different from the one set. Used of a horse.
  • verb-intransitive. To interrupt or cease an activity: We'll break for coffee at ten.
  • verb-intransitive. To discontinue an association, an agreement, or a relationship: The partners broke over a financial matter. One hates to break with an old friend.
  • verb-intransitive. To diminish or discontinue abruptly: The fever is breaking.
  • verb-intransitive. To diminish in or lose physical or spiritual strength; weaken or succumb: Their good cheer broke after repeated setbacks.
  • verb-intransitive. To decrease sharply in value or quantity: Stock prices broke when the firm suddenly announced layoffs.
  • verb-intransitive. To come to an end: The cold spell broke yesterday.
  • verb-intransitive. To collapse or crash into surf or spray: waves that were breaking along the shore.
  • verb-intransitive. Informal To take place or happen; proceed: Things have been breaking well for them.
  • verb-intransitive. To engage in breaking; break dance.
  • n. The act or an occurrence of breaking.
  • n. The result of breaking, as a crack, separation, or opening: a break in the clouds.
  • n. The beginning or emergence of something: the break of day
  • n. A sudden movement; a dash: The dog made a break toward the open field.
  • n. An escape: a prison break.
  • n. An interruption or a disruption in continuity or regularity: television programming without commercial breaks.
  • n. A pause or interval, as from work: a coffee break.
  • n. A sudden or marked change: a break in the weather.
  • n. A violation: a security break.
  • n. An often sudden piece of luck, especially good luck: finally got the big break in life.
  • n. Informal An allowance or indulgence; accommodating treatment: The boss gave me a break because I'd been sick.
  • n. Informal A favorable price or reduction: a tax break for charitable contributions.
  • n. A severing of ties: made a break with the past; a break between the two families.
  • n. Informal A faux pas.
  • n. A sudden decline in prices.
  • n. A caesura.
  • n. Printing The space between two paragraphs.
  • n. Printing A series of three dots ( . . . ) used to indicate an omission in a text.
  • n. Printing The place where a word is or should be divided at the end of a line.
  • n. Electricity Interruption of a flow of current.
  • n. Geology A marked change in topography such as a fault or deep valley.
  • n. Nautical The point of discontinuity between two levels on the deck of a ship.
  • n. Music The point at which one register or tonal quality changes to another.
  • n. Music The change itself.
  • n. Music A solo jazz cadenza that is played during the pause between the regular phrases or choruses of a melody or that serves as an introduction to a more extended solo.
  • n. A change in a horse's gait to one different from that set by the rider.
  • n. Sports The swerving of a ball from a straight path of flight, as in baseball or cricket.
  • n. Sports The beginning of a race.
  • n. Sports A fast break.
  • n. Sports A rush toward the goal, as in hockey, by offense players in control of the puck or ball, often against fewer defenders: a three-on-one break.
  • n. Sports The separation after a clinch in boxing.
  • n. Games The opening shot that scatters the grouped balls in billiards or pool.
  • n. Games A run or unbroken series of successful shots, as in billiards or croquet.
  • n. Sports & Games Failure to score a strike or a spare in a given bowling frame.
  • n. Sports A service break.
  • n. A high horse-drawn carriage with four wheels.
  • n. Break dancing.
  • phrasal-verb. break away To separate or detach oneself, as from a group.
  • phrasal-verb. break away To move rapidly away from or ahead of a group: The cyclist broke away from the pack.
  • phrasal-verb. break away To discontinue customary practice.
  • phrasal-verb. break down To cause to collapse; destroy: break down a partition; broke down our resolve.
  • phrasal-verb. break down To become or cause to become distressed or upset.
  • phrasal-verb. break down To have a physical or mental collapse.
  • phrasal-verb. break down To give up resistance; give way: prejudices that break down slowly.
  • phrasal-verb. break down To fail to function; cease to be useful, effective, or operable: The elevator broke down.
  • phrasal-verb. break down To render or become weak or ineffective: Opposition to the king's rule gradually broke down his authority.
  • phrasal-verb. break down To divide into or consider in parts; analyze.
  • phrasal-verb. break down To be divisible; admit of analysis: The population breaks down into three main groups.
  • phrasal-verb. break down To decompose or cause to decompose chemically.
  • phrasal-verb. break down Electricity To undergo a breakdown.
  • phrasal-verb. break in To train or adapt for a purpose.
  • phrasal-verb. break in To loosen or soften with use: break in new shoes.
  • phrasal-verb. break in To enter premises forcibly or illegally: a prowler who was trying to break in.
  • phrasal-verb. break in To interrupt a conversation or discussion.
  • phrasal-verb. break in To intrude.
  • phrasal-verb. break in To begin an activity or undertaking: The Senator broke in during the war years.
  • phrasal-verb. break into To interrupt: "No one would have dared to break into his abstraction” ( Alan Paton).
  • phrasal-verb. break into To begin suddenly: The horse broke into a wild gallop. The child broke into a flood of tears.
  • phrasal-verb. break into To enter (a field of activity): broke into broadcast journalism at an early age.
  • phrasal-verb. break off To separate or become separated, as by twisting or tearing.
  • phrasal-verb. break off To stop suddenly, as in speaking.
  • phrasal-verb. break off To discontinue (a relationship).
  • phrasal-verb. break off To cease to be friendly.
  • phrasal-verb. break out To become affected with a skin eruption, such as pimples.
  • phrasal-verb. break out To develop suddenly and forcefully: Fighting broke out in the prison cells.
  • phrasal-verb. break out To ready for action or use: Break out the rifles!
  • phrasal-verb. break out To bring forth for consumption: Let's break out the champagne.
  • phrasal-verb. break out To emerge or escape.
  • phrasal-verb. break out To be separable or classifiable into categories, as data.
  • phrasal-verb. break out To isolate (information) from a large body of data.
  • phrasal-verb. break through To make a sudden, quick advance, as through an obstruction.
  • phrasal-verb. break up To separate or be separated into pieces: She broke up a chocolate bar. The river ice finally broke up.
  • phrasal-verb. break up To interrupt the uniformity or continuity of: An impromptu visit broke up the long afternoon.
  • phrasal-verb. break up To scatter; disperse: The crowd broke up after the game.
  • phrasal-verb. break up To cease to function or cause to stop functioning as an organized unit or group: His jazz band broke up. The new CEO broke up the corporation.
  • phrasal-verb. break up To bring or come to an end: Guards broke up the fight. They argued, and their friendship broke up.
  • phrasal-verb. break up Informal To burst or cause to burst into laughter.
  • idiom. break a leg Used to wish someone, such as an actor, success in a performance.
  • idiom. break bread To eat together.
  • idiom. break camp To pack up equipment and leave a campsite.
  • idiom. break cover To emerge from a protected location or hiding place: The platoon broke cover and headed down the road.
  • idiom. break even To gain an amount equal to that invested, as in a commercial venture.
  • idiom. break ground To begin a new construction project.
  • idiom. break ground To advance beyond previous achievements.
  • idiom. break new ground To advance beyond previous achievements: broke new ground in the field of computers.
  • idiom. break (one's) neck To make the utmost possible effort.
  • idiom. rank To fall into disorder, as a formation of soldiers.
  • idiom. rank To fail to conform to a prevailing or expected pattern or order: "Architectural experts have criticized the plaza in the past because it breaks rank with the distinctive façades of neighboring Fifth Avenue blocks, whose buildings are flush with the sidewalk” ( Sharon Churcher).
  • idiom. break (someone's) heart To disappoint or dispirit someone severely.
  • idiom. break the bank To require more money than is available.
  • idiom. break the ice To make a start.
  • idiom. break the ice To relax a tense or unduly formal atmosphere or social situation.
  • idiom. break wind To expel intestinal gas.
  • Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
  • v. To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly.
  • v. To divide (something, often money) into smaller units.
  • v. To cause (a person) to lose his or her spirit or will; to crush the spirits of; to ruin (a person) emotionally.
  • v. To cause an animal to lose its will, to tame.
  • v. To cause (a habit) to no longer exist.
  • v. To ruin financially.
  • v. To do that which is forbidden by (a rule, promise, etc.).
  • v. To pass the most dangerous part of the illness; to go down, temperaturewise.
  • v. To design or use a powerful (yet legal) strategy that unbalances the game in a player's favor.
  • v. To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether.
  • v. To cause (a barrier) to no longer bar.
  • v. To collapse into surf, after arriving in shallow water. A wave breaking.
  • v. To end.
  • v. To interrupt or cease one's work or occupation temporarily.
  • v. To interrupt (a fall) by inserting something so that the falling object not hit something else beneath.
  • v. To disclose or make known an item of news, etc.
  • v. To arrive.
  • v. To become audible suddenly.
  • v. To change a steady state abruptly.
  • v. To suddenly become.
  • v. Of a voice, to alter in type: in men generally to go up, in women sometimes to go down; to crack.
  • v. To surpass or do better than (a specific number), to do better than (a record), setting a new record.
  • v. :
  • v. To demote, to reduce the military rank of.
  • v. To end (a connection), to disconnect.
  • v. To demulsify.
  • v. To counter-attack
  • n. An instance of breaking something into two pieces.
  • n. A physical space that opens up in something or between two things.
  • n. A short section of music, often between verses, in which some performers stop while others continue.
  • n. A rest or pause, usually from work; a breaktime.
  • n. A temporary split (with a romantic partner).
  • n. An interval or intermission between two parts of a performance, for example a theatre show, broadcast, or sports game.
  • n. A significant change in circumstance, attitude, perception, or focus of attention: big break, lucky break, bad break.
  • n. a change; the end of a spell of persistent good or bad weather
  • n. The beginning (of the morning).
  • n. An act of escaping.
  • n. A place where waves break (that is, where waves pitch or spill forward creating white water).
  • n. :
  • the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
  • v. To strain apart; to sever by fracture; to divide with violence.
  • v. To lay open as by breaking; to divide.
  • v. To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate.
  • v. To infringe or violate, as an obligation, law, or promise.
  • Word Usage
    "In some poems, the circumstances under which they are written will be the only introduction necessary, as in the case of _Break, break, break_ or _The Recessional_."
    Equivalent
    all up    to break a stag    road   
    Antonym
    hold   
    Verb Form
    breaking    breaks    broke    broken   
    Hypernym
    Words that are more generic or abstract
    avoid    nullify    void    annul    invalidate    quash    flee    fly    take flight    get   
    Cross Reference
    fail    dawn    burst    start    change    breach    disarrange    interrupt    ruin    discharge   
    Variant
    broken    broke    brake    commutator   
    Synonym
    Words with the same meaning
    destroy    dispart    dislocate    violate    tear    rend    shatter    burst    infringe    batter   
    Rhyme
    Words with the same terminal sound
    Ache    Blake    Drake    Haik    Jake    Lake    Snake    ache    ake    awake   
    Same Context
    Words that are found in similar contexts
    move    cut    change    burst    go    run    fall    to-day    shoot    turn