Main entry: jailbreak, prison-breaking, prisonbreak, break, breakout, gaolbreak
Definition: an escape from jail
Usage: the breakout was carefully planned
Main entry: break, open frame
Definition: any frame in which a bowler fails to make a strike or spare
Usage: the break in the eighth frame cost him the match
Main entry: break
Definition: a sudden dash
Usage: he made a break for the open door
Main entry: break, breakage, breaking
Definition: the act of breaking something
Usage: the breakage was unavoidable
Main entry: gap, interruption, disruption, break
Definition: an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity
Usage: it was presented without commercial breaks; there was a gap in his account
Main entry: break, break of serve
Definition: (tennis) a score consisting of winning a game when your opponent was serving
Usage: he was up two breaks in the second set
Main entry: break
Definition: the opening shot that scatters the balls in billiards or pool
Main entry: recess, respite, time out, break
Definition: a pause from doing something (as work)
Usage: we took a 10-minute break; he took time out to recuperate
Main entry: break
Definition: an abrupt change in the tone or register of the voice (as at puberty or due to emotion)
Usage: then there was a break in her voice
Main entry: breach, break, rift, severance, rupture, falling out
Definition: a personal or social separation (as between opposing factions)
Usage: they hoped to avoid a break in relations
Main entry: break, happy chance, good luck
Definition: an unexpected piece of good luck
Usage: he finally got his big break
Main entry: break
Definition: the occurrence of breaking
Usage: the break in the dam threatened the valley
Main entry: break, interruption
Definition: some abrupt occurrence that interrupts an ongoing activity
Usage: the telephone is an annoying interruption; there was a break in the action when a player was hurt
Main entry: fault, faulting, fracture, geological fault, break, shift
Definition: (geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other
Usage: they built it right over a geological fault; he studied the faulting of the earth's crust
Definition: breaking of hard tissue such as bone
Usage: it was a nasty fracture; the break seems to have been caused by a fall
Main entry: pause, break, intermission, interruption, suspension
Definition: a time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something
Main entry: break
Definition: weaken or destroy in spirit or body
Usage: His resistance was broken; a man broken by the terrible experience of near-death
Main entry: break
Definition: diminish or discontinue abruptly
Usage: The patient's fever broke last night
Definition: fracture a bone of
Usage: I broke my foot while playing hockey
Main entry: break
Definition: fall sharply
Usage: stock prices broke
Definition: make submissive, obedient, or useful
Usage: The horse was tough to break; I broke in the new intern
Main entry: break
Definition: be broken in
Usage: If the new teacher won't break, we'll add some stress
Main entry: break
Definition: crack; of the male voice in puberty
Usage: his voice is breaking--he should no longer sing in the choir
Main entry: break
Definition: render inoperable or ineffective
Usage: You broke the alarm clock when you took it apart!
Main entry: separate, split up, come apart, break, fall apart
Definition: become separated into pieces or fragments
Usage: The figurine broke; The freshly baked loaf fell apart
Main entry: break
Definition: destroy the integrity of; usually by force; cause to separate into pieces or fragments
Usage: He broke the glass plate; She broke the match
Main entry: break, check, crack
Definition: become fractured; break or crack on the surface only
Usage: The glass cracked when it was heated
Main entry: break, develop, recrudesce
Definition: happen
Usage: Report the news as it develops; These political movements recrudesce from time to time
Main entry: break, break off, stop, discontinue
Definition: prevent completion
Usage: stop the project; break off the negotiations
Definition: terminate
Usage: She interrupted her pregnancy; break a lucky streak; break the cycle of poverty
Main entry: weaken, break, soften, damp, dampen
Definition: lessen in force or effect
Usage: soften a shock; break a fall
Main entry: break, break down, die, conk out, go, go bad, give out, give way, fail
Definition: stop operating or functioning
Usage: 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
Main entry: break
Definition: change suddenly from one tone quality or register to another
Usage: Her voice broke to a whisper when she started to talk about her children
Main entry: break
Definition: come into being
Usage: light broke over the horizon; Voices broke in the air
Main entry: break
Definition: find the solution or key to
Usage: break the code
Main entry: break
Definition: find a flaw in
Usage: break an alibi; break down a proof
Main entry: break
Definition: undergo breaking
Usage: The simple vowels broke in many Germanic languages
Main entry: break
Definition: interrupt the flow of current in
Usage: break a circuit
Main entry: break, pause, intermit
Definition: cease an action temporarily
Usage: We pause for station identification; let's break for lunch
Main entry: unwrap, expose, give away, reveal, let on, let out, break, bring out, disclose, discover, divulge
Definition: make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret
Usage: 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
Main entry: get around, get out, break
Definition: be released or become known; of news
Usage: News of her death broke in the morning
Definition: surpass in excellence
Usage: She bettered her own record; break a record
Main entry: break
Definition: pierce or penetrate
Usage: The blade broke her skin
Main entry: break
Definition: become punctured or penetrated
Usage: The skin broke
Main entry: snap off, break, break off
Definition: break a piece from a whole
Usage: break a branch from a tree
Main entry: fall apart, bust, break, wear, wear out
Definition: go to pieces
Usage: The lawn mower finally broke; The gears wore out; The old chair finally fell apart completely
Definition: ruin completely
Usage: He busted my radio!
Main entry: break
Definition: separate from a clinch, in boxing
Usage: The referee broke the boxers
Main entry: break
Definition: make the opening shot that scatters the balls
Definition: destroy the completeness of a set of related items
Usage: The book dealer would not break the set
Main entry: break
Definition: exchange for smaller units of money
Usage: I had to break a $100 bill just to buy the candy
Main entry: erupt, break, burst
Definition: force out or release suddenly and often violently something pent up
Usage: break into tears; erupt in anger
Main entry: break, break dance, break-dance
Definition: do a break dance
Usage: Kids were break-dancing at the street corner
Main entry: break
Definition: curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves
Usage: The surf broke
Main entry: founder, fall in, break, cave in, collapse, give, give way
Definition: break down, literally or metaphorically
Usage: 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
Main entry: break
Definition: emerge from the surface of a body of water
Usage: The whales broke
Main entry: break
Definition: scatter or part
Usage: The clouds broke after the heavy downpour
Main entry: break
Definition: make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one's own by quitting or fleeing
Usage: The ranks broke
Main entry: break, break away, break out
Definition: move away or escape suddenly
Usage: The horses broke from the stable; Three inmates broke jail; Nobody can break out--this prison is high security
Main entry: break
Definition: change directions suddenly
Main entry: bankrupt, break, smash, ruin
Definition: reduce to bankruptcy
Usage: My daughter's fancy wedding is going to break me!; The slump in the financial markets smashed him
Main entry: demote, kick downstairs, relegate, break, bump
Definition: assign to a lower position; reduce in rank
Usage: She was demoted because she always speaks up; He was broken down to Sergeant
Main entry: part, separate, split, split up, break, break up
Definition: discontinue an association or relation; go different ways
Usage: The business partners broke over a tax question; The couple separated after 25 years of marriage; My friend and I split up
Main entry: break
Definition: invalidate by judicial action
Usage: The will was broken
Main entry: break, break away
Definition: interrupt a continued activity
Usage: She had broken with the traditional patterns
Main entry: break
Definition: cause the failure or ruin of
Usage: His peccadilloes finally broke his marriage; This play will either make or break the playwright
Main entry: go against, infract, offend, breach, break, transgress, violate
Definition: act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises
Usage: offend all laws of humanity; violate the basic laws or human civilization; break a law; break a promise
Definition: enter someone's (virtual or real) property in an unauthorized manner, usually with the intent to steal or commit a violent act
Usage: Someone broke in while I was on vacation; They broke into my car and stole my radio!; who broke into my account last night?
Main entry: break
Definition: happen or take place
Usage: Things have been breaking pretty well for us in the past few months
Main entry: break
Definition: come forth or begin from a state of latency
Usage: The first winter storm broke over New York
Main entry: violate, go against, break
Definition: fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns
Usage: This sentence violates the rules of syntax
Main entry: break
Definition: give up
Usage: break cigarette smoking
Main entry: break
Definition: cause to give up a habit
Usage: She finally broke herself of smoking cigarettes
Main entry: break
Definition: vary or interrupt a uniformity or continuity
Usage: The flat plain was broken by tall mesas
Main entry: break
Definition: come to an end
Usage: The heat wave finally broke yesterday