breakdown

CEFRC1

/ˈbɹeɪkdaʊn/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A failure, collapse, or detailed explanation.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Something, such as a vehicle, that has experienced a mechanical failure.

Examples

  • If Jane does not rest more, she may have a nervous breakdown.

  • She is on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • /ˈbɹeɪkˌdaʊn/
  • /bɹɛk.duːn/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A failure, particularly one which is mechanical in nature.

  2. The sudden (and usually damaging) transition of an electrical insulator to a conductor when subjected to a sufficiently strong voltage, caused by the partial or complete ionization of the insulator; (countable) an instance of this; also, the minimum voltage at which this occurs.

  3. Separation of a thing into components; decomposition, fragmentation; (countable) an instance of this.

More examples

In context

  • Looking at the breakdown of the budget, I see a few items we could cut.

  • We saw a breakdown by the side of the road.

  • Whenever he was behind the wheel, he would panic at the first sign of a breakdown.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The sudden blank of their old car left them stranded on the highway at midnight.

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

Nearby

Origin

noun

English down English break downdeverb. English breakdown Deverbal from break down.