Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun break

16 senses of break

Sense 1
interruption, break -- (some abrupt occurrence that interrupts an ongoing activity; "the telephone is an annoying interruption"; "there was a break in the action when a player was hurt")
       => happening, occurrence, occurrent, natural event -- (an event that happens)

Sense 2
break, good luck, happy chance -- (an unexpected piece of good luck; "he finally got his big break")
       => accident, stroke, fortuity, chance event -- (anything that happens suddenly or by chance without an apparent cause; "winning the lottery was a happy accident"; "the pregnancy was a stroke of bad luck"; "it was due to an accident or fortuity")

Sense 3
fault, faulting, geological fault, shift, fracture, break -- ((geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other; "they built it right over a geological fault"; "he studied the faulting of the earth's crust")
       => crack, cleft, crevice, fissure, scissure -- (a long narrow opening)

Sense 4
rupture, breach, break, severance, rift, falling out -- (a personal or social separation (as between opposing factions); "they hoped to avoid a break in relations")
       => separation, breakup, detachment -- (coming apart)

Sense 5
respite, recess, break, time out -- (a pause from doing something (as work); "we took a 10-minute break"; "he took time out to recuperate")
       => pause -- (temporary inactivity)

Sense 6
breakage, break, breaking -- (the act of breaking something; "the breakage was unavoidable")
       => change of integrity -- (the act of changing the unity or wholeness of something)

Sense 7
pause, intermission, break, interruption, suspension -- (a time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something)
       => time interval, interval -- (a definite length of time marked off by two instants)

Sense 8
fracture, break -- (breaking of hard tissue such as bone; "it was a nasty fracture"; "the break seems to have been caused by a fall")
       => injury, hurt, harm, trauma -- (any physical damage to the body caused by violence or accident or fracture etc.)

Sense 9
break -- (the occurrence of breaking; "the break in the dam threatened the valley")
       => separation, breakup, detachment -- (coming apart)

Sense 10
break -- (an abrupt change in the tone or register of the voice (as at puberty or due to emotion); "then there was a break in her voice")
       => change, alteration, modification -- (an event that occurs when something passes from one state or phase to another; "the change was intended to increase sales"; "this storm is certainly a change for the worse"; "the neighborhood had undergone few modifications since his last visit years ago")

Sense 11
break -- (the opening shot that scatters the balls in billiards or pool)
       => stroke, shot -- ((sports) the act of swinging or striking at a ball with a club or racket or bat or cue or hand; "it took two strokes to get out of the bunker"; "a good shot requires good balance and tempo"; "he left me an almost impossible shot")

Sense 12
break, break of serve -- ((tennis) a score consisting of winning a game when your opponent was serving; "he was up two breaks in the second set")
       => score -- (the act of scoring in a game or sport; "the winning score came with less than a minute left to play")

Sense 13
break, interruption, disruption, gap -- (an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity; "it was presented without commercial breaks"; "there was a gap in his account")
       => delay, holdup -- (the act of delaying; inactivity resulting in something being put off until a later time)

Sense 14
break -- (a sudden dash; "he made a break for the open door")
       => dash, sprint -- (a quick run)

Sense 15
open frame, break -- (any frame in which a bowler fails to make a strike or spare; "the break in the eighth frame cost him the match")
       => score -- (the act of scoring in a game or sport; "the winning score came with less than a minute left to play")

Sense 16
break, breakout, jailbreak, gaolbreak, prisonbreak, prison-breaking -- (an escape from jail; "the breakout was carefully planned")
       => escape, flight -- (the act of escaping physically; "he made his escape from the mental hospital"; "the canary escaped from its cage"; "his flight was an indication of his guilt")

Antonyms of verb break

3 of 59 senses of break

Sense 4
break, bust -- (ruin completely; "He busted my radio!")
       Antonym of repair (Sense 1)
      => repair, mend, fix, bushel, doctor, furbish up, restore, touch on -- (restore by replacing a part or putting together what is torn or broken; "She repaired her TV set"; "Repair my shoes please")

Sense 6
transgress, offend, infract, violate, go against, breach, break -- (act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises; "offend all laws of humanity"; "violate the basic laws or human civilization"; "break a law"; "break a promise")
       Antonym of keep (Sense 5)
      => observe, keep -- (conform one's action or practice to; "keep appointments"; "she never keeps her promises"; "We kept to the original conditions of the contract")

Sense 29
break -- (cause the failure or ruin of; "His peccadilloes finally broke his marriage"; "This play will either make or break the playwright")
       Antonym of make (Sense 41)
      => make -- (assure the success of; "A good review by this critic will make your play!")

Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb break

59 senses of break

Sense 1
interrupt, break -- (terminate; "She interrupted her pregnancy"; "break a lucky streak"; "break the cycle of poverty")
       => end, terminate -- (bring to an end or halt; "She ended their friendship when she found out that he had once been convicted of a crime"; "The attack on Poland terminated the relatively peaceful period after WW I")

Sense 2
break, separate, split up, fall apart, come apart -- (become separated into pieces or fragments; "The figurine broke"; "The freshly baked loaf fell apart")
       => change integrity -- (change in physical make-up)
          Phrasal Verb-> break up#18

Sense 3
break -- (render inoperable or ineffective; "You broke the alarm clock when you took it apart!")
       => damage -- (inflict damage upon; "The snow damaged the roof"; "She damaged the car when she hit the tree")

Sense 4
break, bust -- (ruin completely; "He busted my radio!")
       => destroy, ruin -- (destroy completely; damage irreparably; "You have ruined my car by pouring sugar in the tank!"; "The tears ruined her make-up")
          Phrasal Verb-> break up#8; break apart#1; break off#5; break up#10; break down#2

Sense 5
break -- (destroy the integrity of; usually by force; cause to separate into pieces or fragments; "He broke the glass plate"; "She broke the match")
       => separate, divide -- (make a division or separation)

Sense 6
transgress, offend, infract, violate, go against, breach, break -- (act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises; "offend all laws of humanity"; "violate the basic laws or human civilization"; "break a law"; "break a promise")
       => disrespect -- (show a lack of respect for)

Sense 7
break, break out, break away -- (move away or escape suddenly; "The horses broke from the stable"; "Three inmates broke jail"; "Nobody can break out--this prison is high security")
       => escape, get away, break loose -- (run away from confinement; "The convicted murderer escaped from a high security prison")

Sense 8
break -- (scatter or part; "The clouds broke after the heavy downpour")
       => disperse, dissipate, scatter, spread out -- (move away from each other; "The crowds dispersed"; "The children scattered in all directions when the teacher approached";)

Sense 9
break, burst, erupt -- (force out or release suddenly and often violently something pent up; "break into tears"; "erupt in anger")
       => express emotion, express feelings -- (give verbal or other expression to one's feelings)

Sense 10
break, break off, discontinue, stop -- (prevent completion; "stop the project"; "break off the negotiations")
       => end, terminate -- (bring to an end or halt; "She ended their friendship when she found out that he had once been convicted of a crime"; "The attack on Poland terminated the relatively peaceful period after WW I")

Sense 11
break in, break -- (enter someone's (virtual or real) property in an unauthorized manner, usually with the intent to steal or commit a violent act; "Someone broke in while I was on vacation"; "They broke into my car and stole my radio!"; "who broke into my account last night?")
       => trespass, intrude -- (enter unlawfully on someone's property; "Don't trespass on my land!")

Sense 12
break in, break -- (make submissive, obedient, or useful; "The horse was tough to break"; "I broke in the new intern")
       => domesticate, domesticize, domesticise, reclaim, tame -- (overcome the wildness of; make docile and tractable; "He tames lions for the circus"; "reclaim falcons")

Sense 13
violate, go against, break -- (fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns; "This sentence violates the rules of syntax")

Sense 14
better, break -- (surpass in excellence; "She bettered her own record"; "break a record")
       => surpass, outstrip, outmatch, outgo, exceed, outdo, surmount, outperform -- (be or do something to a greater degree; "her performance surpasses that of any other student I know"; "She outdoes all other athletes"; "This exceeds all my expectations"; "This car outperforms all others in its class")

Sense 15
unwrap, disclose, let on, bring out, reveal, discover, expose, divulge, break, give away, let out -- (make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret; "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")
       => tell -- (let something be known; "Tell them that you will be late")

Sense 16
break -- (come into being; "light broke over the horizon"; "Voices broke in the air")
       => become, go, get -- (enter or assume a certain state or condition; "He became annoyed when he heard the bad news"; "It must be getting more serious"; "her face went red with anger"; "She went into ecstasy"; "Get going!")

Sense 17
fail, go bad, give way, die, give out, conk out, go, break, break down -- (stop operating or functioning; "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")
       => change -- (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night")

Sense 18
break, break away -- (interrupt a continued activity; "She had broken with the traditional patterns")
       => separate, part, split up, split, break, break up -- (discontinue an association or relation; go different ways; "The business partners broke over a tax question"; "The couple separated after 25 years of marriage"; "My friend and I split up")

Sense 19
break -- (make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one's own by quitting or fleeing; "The ranks broke")
       => flee, fly, take flight -- (run away quickly; "He threw down his gun and fled")

Sense 20
break -- (curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves; "The surf broke")
       => collapse, fall in, cave in, give, give way, break, founder -- (break down, literally or metaphorically; "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")

Sense 21
dampen, damp, soften, weaken, break -- (lessen in force or effect; "soften a shock"; "break a fall")
       => deaden, blunt -- (make less lively, intense, or vigorous; impair in vigor, force, activity, or sensation; "Terror blunted her feelings"; "deaden a sound")

Sense 22
break -- (be broken in; "If the new teacher won't break, we'll add some stress")
       => change -- (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night")

Sense 23
break -- (come to an end; "The heat wave finally broke yesterday")
       => end, stop, finish, terminate, cease -- (have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense; either spatial or metaphorical; "the bronchioles terminate in a capillary bed"; "Your rights stop where you infringe upon the rights of other"; "My property ends by the bushes"; "The symphony ends in a pianissimo")

Sense 24
break -- (vary or interrupt a uniformity or continuity; "The flat plain was broken by tall mesas")
       => change, alter, vary -- (become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one's or its former characteristics or essence; "her mood changes in accordance with the weather"; "The supermarket's selection of vegetables varies according to the season")

Sense 25
break -- (cause to give up a habit; "She finally broke herself of smoking cigarettes")

Sense 26
break -- (give up; "break cigarette smoking")
       => discontinue, stop, cease, give up, quit, lay off -- (put an end to a state or an activity; "Quit teasing your little brother")

Sense 27
break -- (come forth or begin from a state of latency; "The first winter storm broke over New York")
       => come forth, emerge -- (happen or occur as a result of something)

Sense 28
break -- (happen or take place; "Things have been breaking pretty well for us in the past few months")
       => happen, hap, go on, pass off, occur, pass, fall out, come about, take place -- (come to pass; "What is happening?"; "The meeting took place off without an incidence"; "Nothing occurred that seemed important")

Sense 29
break -- (cause the failure or ruin of; "His peccadilloes finally broke his marriage"; "This play will either make or break the playwright")
       => ruin -- (destroy or cause to fail; "This behavior will ruin your chances of winning the election")

Sense 30
break -- (invalidate by judicial action; "The will was broken")
       => invalidate, annul, quash, void, avoid, nullify -- (declare invalid; "The contract was annulled"; "void a plea")

Sense 31
separate, part, split up, split, break, break up -- (discontinue an association or relation; go different ways; "The business partners broke over a tax question"; "The couple separated after 25 years of marriage"; "My friend and I split up")

Sense 32
demote, bump, relegate, break, kick downstairs -- (assign to a lower position; reduce in rank; "She was demoted because she always speaks up"; "He was broken down to Sergeant")
       => delegate, designate, depute, assign -- (give an assignment to (a person) to a post, or assign a task to (a person))

Sense 33
bankrupt, ruin, break, smash -- (reduce to bankruptcy; "My daughter's fancy wedding is going to break me!"; "The slump in the financial markets smashed him")
       => impoverish -- (make poor)

Sense 34
break -- (change directions suddenly)
       => switch, shift, change -- (lay aside, abandon, or leave for another; "switch to a different brand of beer"; "She switched psychiatrists"; "The car changed lanes")

Sense 35
break -- (emerge from the surface of a body of water; "The whales broke")
       => appear -- (come into sight or view; "He suddenly appeared at the wedding"; "A new star appeared on the horizon")

Sense 36
collapse, fall in, cave in, give, give way, break, founder -- (break down, literally or metaphorically; "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")
       => change -- (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night")

Sense 37
break dance, break-dance, break -- (do a break dance; "Kids were break-dancing at the street corner")
       => dance, trip the light fantastic, trip the light fantastic toe -- (move in a pattern; usually to musical accompaniment; do or perform a dance; "My husband and I like to dance at home to the radio")

Sense 38
break -- (exchange for smaller units of money; "I had to break a $100 bill just to buy the candy")
       => change, exchange, commute, convert -- (exchange or replace with another, usually of the same kind or category; "Could you convert my dollars into pounds?"; "He changed his name"; "convert centimeters into inches"; "convert holdings into shares")

Sense 39
break, break up -- (destroy the completeness of a set of related items; "The book dealer would not break the set")
       => change, alter, modify -- (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue")

Sense 40
break -- (make the opening shot that scatters the balls)
       => shoot -- (throw or propel in a specific direction or towards a specific objective; "shoot craps"; "shoot a golf ball")

Sense 41
break -- (separate from a clinch, in boxing; "The referee broke the boxers")
       => separate, disunite, divide, part -- (force, take, or pull apart; "He separated the fighting children"; "Moses parted the Red Sea")

Sense 42
break, wear, wear out, bust, fall apart -- (go to pieces; "The lawn mower finally broke"; "The gears wore out"; "The old chair finally fell apart completely")
       => decay, crumble, dilapidate -- (fall into decay or ruin; "The unoccupied house started to decay")
          Phrasal Verb-> break away#2; break off#3; break up#4; break apart#2

Sense 43
break, break off, snap off -- (break a piece from a whole; "break a branch from a tree")
       => detach -- (cause to become detached or separated; take off; "detach the skin from the chicken before you eat it")

Sense 44
break -- (become punctured or penetrated; "The skin broke")

Sense 45
break -- (pierce or penetrate; "The blade broke her skin")
       => penetrate, perforate -- (pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance; "The bullet penetrated her chest")

Sense 46
break, get out, get around -- (be released or become known; of news; "News of her death broke in the morning")

Sense 47
pause, intermit, break -- (cease an action temporarily; "We pause for station identification"; "let's break for lunch")
       => interrupt, disrupt, break up, cut off -- (make a break in; "We interrupt the program for the following messages")

Sense 48
break -- (interrupt the flow of current in; "break a circuit")
       => interrupt, disrupt, break up, cut off -- (make a break in; "We interrupt the program for the following messages")

Sense 49
break -- (undergo breaking; "The simple vowels broke in many Germanic languages")
       => diphthongize, diphthongise -- (change from a simple vowel to a diphthong; "This vowel diphthongized in Germanic")

Sense 50
break -- (find a flaw in; "break an alibi"; "break down a proof")
       => destroy, ruin -- (destroy completely; damage irreparably; "You have ruined my car by pouring sugar in the tank!"; "The tears ruined her make-up")

Sense 51
break -- (find the solution or key to; "break the code")
       => solve, work out, figure out, puzzle out, lick, work -- (find the solution to (a problem or question) or understand the meaning of; "did you solve the problem?"; "Work out your problems with the boss"; "this unpleasant situation isn't going to work itself out"; "did you get it?"; "Did you get my meaning?"; "He could not work the math problem")

Sense 52
break -- (change suddenly from one tone quality or register to another; "Her voice broke to a whisper when she started to talk about her children")
       => switch, shift, change -- (lay aside, abandon, or leave for another; "switch to a different brand of beer"; "She switched psychiatrists"; "The car changed lanes")

Sense 53
break, recrudesce, develop -- (happen; "Report the news as it develops"; "These political movements recrudesce from time to time")
       => happen, hap, go on, pass off, occur, pass, fall out, come about, take place -- (come to pass; "What is happening?"; "The meeting took place off without an incidence"; "Nothing occurred that seemed important")
          Phrasal Verb-> break out#1; break through#2

Sense 54
crack, check, break -- (become fractured; break or crack on the surface only; "The glass cracked when it was heated")
       => change -- (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night")

Sense 55
break -- (crack; of the male voice in puberty; "his voice is breaking--he should no longer sing in the choir")
       => change state, turn -- (undergo a transformation or a change of position or action; "We turned from Socialism to Capitalism"; "The people turned against the President when he stole the election")

Sense 56
break -- (fall sharply; "stock prices broke")
       => decrease, diminish, lessen, fall -- (decrease in size, extent, or range; "The amount of homework decreased towards the end of the semester"; "The cabin pressure fell dramatically"; "her weight fell to under a hundred pounds"; "his voice fell to a whisper")

Sense 57
fracture, break -- (fracture a bone of; "I broke my foot while playing hockey")
       => injure, wound -- (cause injuries or bodily harm to)

Sense 58
break -- (diminish or discontinue abruptly; "The patient's fever broke last night")
       => decrease, diminish, lessen, fall -- (decrease in size, extent, or range; "The amount of homework decreased towards the end of the semester"; "The cabin pressure fell dramatically"; "her weight fell to under a hundred pounds"; "his voice fell to a whisper")

Sense 59
break -- (weaken or destroy in spirit or body; "His resistance was broken"; "a man broken by the terrible experience of near-death")
       => weaken -- (lessen the strength of; "The fever weakened his body")