break

CEFRA1

/bɹeɪk/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To separate into pieces or stop working.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To divide (something, often money) into smaller units.

Examples

  • I slept a little during lunch break because I was so tired.

  • Sometimes hockey players get so competitive that fights break out.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /brɛːk/
  • /bɹɛk/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly.

  2. To cause (a person or animal) to lose spirit or will; to crush the spirits of.

  3. To crack or fracture (bone) under a physical strain.

More examples

In context

  • She was on her lunch break.

  • His ribs broke under the weight of the rocks piled on his chest.

  • If the vase falls to the floor, it might break.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Be careful not to blank the fragile vase while moving it to the shelf.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English breken, from Old English brecan (“to break”), from Proto-West Germanic *brekan, from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”). Doublet of bray. Cognates Cognates of Germanic origin include Scots brek (“to break”), West Frisian brekke (“to break”), Dutch breken (“to break”), Low German breken (“to break”), German brechen (“to break”), French broyer (“to crush, grind”), Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (brikan, “to break, destroy”), Norwegian brek (“desire, yearning”). Also cognate with Albanian brishtë (“fragile”), Latin frangō (“break, break up, shatter”, verb), whence English fracture and other terms – fragile, frail, fraction, and fragment...