BREAKING

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

Example: "If the vase falls to the floor, it might break."

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

Example: "Can you break a hundred-dollar bill for me?"

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

Example: "Her child's death broke angela."

To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief.

Example: "My heart is breaking."

To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate.

Example: "I had won four games in a row, but now you've broken my streak of luck."

To ruin financially.

Example: "The recession broke some small businesses."

To violate, to not adhere to.

Example: "He broke his vows by cheating on his wife."

(of a fever) to pass the most dangerous part of the illness; to go down, in terms of temperature.

Example: "Susan's fever broke at about 3 am, and the doctor said the worst was over."

(of a spell of settled weather) to end.

Example: "The forecast says the hot weather will break by midweek."

(of a storm) to begin; to end.

Example: "Around midday the storm broke, and the afternoon was calm and sunny."

(of morning, dawn, day etc.) to arrive.

Example: "Morning has broken."

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.

Example: "Changing the rules to let white have three extra queens would break chess."

To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether.

Example: "Did you two break the trolley by racing with it?"

To cause (a barrier) to no longer bar.

Example: "Break a seal"

To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce.

Example: "The cavalry were not able to break the british squares."

(of a wave of water) to collapse into surf, after arriving in shallow water.

To burst forth; to make its way; to come into view.

To interrupt or cease one's work or occupation temporarily.

Example: "Let's break for lunch."

To interrupt (a fall) by inserting something so that the falling object does not (immediately) hit something else beneath.

Example: "He survived the jump out the window because the bushes below broke his fall."

To disclose or make known an item of news, etc.

Example: "I don't know how to break this to you, but your cat is not coming back."

(of a sound) to become audible suddenly.

To change a steady state abruptly.

Example: "His coughing broke the silence."

To suddenly become.

Example: "The arrest was standard, when suddenly the suspect broke ugly."

Of a male voice, to become deeper at puberty.

Of a voice, to alter in type due to emotion or strain: in men generally to go up, in women sometimes to go down; to crack.

Example: "His voice breaks when he gets emotional."

To surpass or do better than (a specific number), to do better than (a record), setting a new record.

Example: "He broke the men's 100-meter record."

:

(most often in the passive tense) to demote, to reduce the military rank of.

To end (a connection), to disconnect.

Example: "I couldn't hear a thing he was saying, so i broke the connection and called him back."

(of an emulsion) to demulsify.

To counter-attack

To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate.

To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose health or strength.

To fail in business; to become bankrupt.

To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of.

Example: "To break flax"

To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss.

To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change the gait.

Example: "To break into a run or gallop"

To fall out; to terminate friendship.

To terminate the execution of a program before normal completion.

To suspend the execution of a program during debugging so that the state of the program can be investigated.