break

Meaning

Verb

1. To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly.
2. To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly.
3. To divide (something, often money) into smaller units.
4. To cause (a person or animal) to lose spirit or will; to crush the spirits of.
5. To cause (a person or animal) to lose spirit or will; to crush the spirits of.
6. To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief.
7. To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate.
8. To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate.
9. To ruin financially.
10. (obsolete) To fail in business; to go broke, to become bankrupt.
11. Of prices on the stock exchange: to fall suddenly.
12. To violate; to fail to adhere to.
13. To go down, in terms of temperature, indicating that the most dangerous part of the illness has passed.
14. To end.
15. To begin or end.
16. To arrive.
17. (slang) To render (a game) unchallenging by altering its rules or exploiting loopholes or weaknesses in them in a way that gives a player an unfair advantage.
18. To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether.
19. To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether.
20. To cause (a barrier) to no longer bar.
21. To cause (a barrier) to no longer bar.
22. To cause (a barrier) to no longer bar.
23. To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce.
24. To collapse into surf, after arriving in shallow water.
25. To burst forth; to make its way; to come into view.
26. To interrupt or cease one's work or occupation temporarily; to go on break.
27. To interrupt (a fall) by inserting something so that the falling object does not (immediately) hit something else beneath.
28. To disclose or make known an item of news, a band, etc.
29. To become audible suddenly.
30. To change a steady state abruptly.
31. To (attempt to) disengage and flee to; to make a run for.
32. (informal) To suddenly become.
33. To become deeper at puberty.
34. To alter in type due to emotion or strain: in men, generally to go up, in women, sometimes to go down; to crack.
35. To surpass or do better than (a specific number); to do better than (a record), setting a new record.
36. To win a game (against one's opponent) as receiver.
37. To make the first shot; to scatter the balls from the initial neat arrangement.
38. To remove one of the two men on (a point).
39. To demote; to reduce the military rank of.
40. To end (a connection); to disconnect.
41. To demulsify.
42. To counter-attack.
43. (obsolete) To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate.
44. To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose health or strength.
45. To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of.
46. To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss.
47. To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change gait.
48. To fall out; to terminate friendship.
49. To terminate the execution of a program before normal completion.
50. To suspend the execution of a program during debugging so that the state of the program can be investigated.
51. To cause, or allow the occurrence of, a line break.

Noun

1. An instance of breaking something into two or more pieces.
2. A physical space that opens up in something or between two things.
3. An interruption of continuity; departure from or rupture with.
4. A rest or pause, usually from work.
5. A rest or pause, usually from work.
6. A rest or pause, usually from work.
7. A short holiday.
8. A temporary split with a romantic partner.
9. An interval or intermission between two parts of a performance, for example a theatre show, broadcast, or sports game.
10. A significant change in circumstance, attitude, perception, or focus of attention.
11. A sudden fall in prices on the stock exchange.
12. The beginning (of the morning).
13. An act of escaping.
14. The separation between lines, paragraphs or pages of a written text.
15. A keystroke or other signal that causes a program to terminate or suspend execution.
16. Short for breakpoint.
17. A change, particularly the end of a spell of persistent good or bad weather.
18. A game won by the receiving player(s).
19. The first shot in a game of billiards.
20. The number of points scored by one player in one visit to the table.
21. The counter-attack.
22. The curve imparted to the ball's motion on the green due to slope or grass texture.
23. A place where waves break (that is, where waves pitch or spill forward creating white water).
24. The start of a horse race.
25. A large four-wheeled carriage, having a straight body and calash top, with the driver's seat in front and the footman's behind.
26. Alternative form of brake (“cart or carriage without a body, for breaking in horses”)
27. A sharp bit or snaffle.
28. A short section of music, often between verses, in which some performers stop while others continue.
29. The point in the musical scale at which a woodwind instrument is designed to overblow, that is, to move from its lower to its upper register.
30. The transition area between a singer's vocal registers; the passaggio.
31. An area along a river that features steep banks, bluffs, or gorges (e.g., Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, US).
32. (obsolete,slang) An error.

Noun

A section of extended repetition of the percussion break to a song, created by a hip-hop DJ as rhythmic dance music.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/bɹeɪk/

Etymology

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”). The word is a 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.