Break

Quick meaning: Break is a verb meaning (transitive) To divide (something, often money) into smaller units.

Meaning

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

More Meanings

1. (transitive) To cause (a person or animal) to lose spirit or will; to crush the spirits of.
2. (intransitive) To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief.
3. (transitive) To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate.
4. (transitive) To ruin financially.
5. (intransitive, obsolete) To fail in business; to go broke, to become bankrupt.
6. (finance, intransitive) Of prices on the stock exchange: to fall suddenly.
7. (ergative, transitive, intransitive) To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly.

Example Sentences

Her child’s death broke Angela.

Can you break a hundred-dollar bill for me?

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

Interrogators have used many forms of torture to break prisoners of war.

Word Forms

• breaks
• breaking
• breakest
• breaketh
• breaked

Synonyms for break

Depending on context, synonyms include burst, bust, shatter, shear, smash, split.

Antonyms for break

Common opposites include assemble, fix, join, mend, put together, repair.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include breakage, fracture, rupture, collapse, breach, burst.

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