Some abrupt occurrence that interrupts an ongoing activity:
— There was a break in the action when a player was hurt.

synonym: interruption.

Roget 140: change, alteration, mutation, permutation, variation, modification, modulation, inflexion, mood, qualification, innovation, metastasis, deviation, turn, evolution, revolution; diversion; break.    transformation, transfiguration; metamorphosis; transmutation; deoxidization [Chem]; transubstantiation; [Genetics], mutagenesis transanimation^†, transmigration, metempsychosis^†; avatar; alterative.    conversion etc. (gradual change) 144; revolution etc. (sudden or radical change) 146, inversion etc. (reversal) 218; displacement etc. 185; transference etc. 270.    changeableness etc. 149; tergiversation etc. (change of mind) 607.    ... show more

Roget 272: vehicle, conveyance, carriage, caravan, van; common carrier; wagon, waggon^†, wain, dray, cart, lorry.    truck, tram; cariole, carriole^†; limber, tumbrel, pontoon; barrow; wheel barrow, hand barrow; perambulator; Bath chair, wheel chair, sedan chair; chaise; palankeen^†, palanquin; litter, brancard^†, crate, hurdle, stretcher, ambulance; black Maria; conestoga wagon, conestoga wain; jinrikisha, ricksha, brett^†, dearborn [U.S.], dump cart, hack, hackery^†, jigger, kittereen^†, mailstate^†, manomotor^†, rig, rockaway^†, prairie schooner [U.S.], shay, sloven, team, tonga^†, wheel; hobbyhorse, go-cart; cycle; bicycle, bike, two-wheeler; tricycle, velocipede, quadricycle^†.    equipage, turn-out; coach, chariot, phaeton, break, mail phaeton, wagonette, drag, curricle^†, tilbury^†, whisky, landau, barouche, victoria, brougham, clarence^†, calash, caleche [Fr.], britzka^†, araba^†, kibitka^†; berlin; sulky, desobligeant [Fr.], sociable, vis-a-vis, dormeuse [Fr.]; jaunting car, outside car; dandi^†; doolie^†, dooly^†; munchil^†, palki^†; roller skates, skate; runabout; ski; tonjon^†; vettura^†.    post chaise, diligence, stage; stage coach, mail coach, hackney coach, glass coach; stage wagon, car, omnibus, fly, cabriolet^†, cab, hansom, shofle^†, four-wheeler, growler, droshki^†, drosky^†.    dogcart, trap, whitechapel, buggy, four-in-hand, unicorn, random, tandem; shandredhan^†, char-a-bancs [Fr.].    motor car, automobile, limousine, car, auto, jalopy, clunker, lemon, flivver, coupe, sedan, two-door sedan, four-door sedan, luxury sedan; wheels [Coll.], sports car, roadster, gran turismo [It], jeep, four-wheel drive vehicle, electric car, steamer; golf cart, electric wagon; taxicab, cab, taxicoach^†, checker cab, yellow cab; station wagon, family car; motorcycle, motor bike, side car; van, minivan, bus, minibus, microbus; truck, wagon, pick-up wagon, pick-up, tractor-trailer, road train, articulated vehicle; racing car, racer, hot rod, stock car, souped-up car.    bob, bobsled, bobsleigh^†; cutter; double ripper, double runner [U.S.]; jumper, sled, sledge, sleigh, toboggan.    train; accommodation train, passenger train, express trail, special train, corridor train, parliamentary train, luggage train, freight train, goods train; 1st class train, 2nd class train, 3rd class train, 1st class carriage, 2nd class carriage, 3rd class carriage, 1st class compartment, 2nd class compartment, 3rd class compartment; rolling stock; horse box, cattle truck; baggage car, express car, freight car, parlor car, dining car, Pullman car, sleeping car, sleeper, dome car; surface car, tram car, trolley car; box car, box wagon; horse car [U.S.]; bullet train, shinkansen [Jap.], cannonball, the Wabash cannonball, lightning express; luggage van; mail, mail car, mail van.    shovel, spool, spatula, ladle, hod, hoe; spade, spaddle^†, loy^†; spud; pitchfork; post hole digger.    [powered construction vehicles] tractor, steamshovel, backhoe, fork lift, earth mover, dump truck, bulldozer, grader, caterpillar, trench digger, steamroller; pile driver; crane, wrecking crane.    ... show more

Roget 689: bracing etc. v.; recovery of strength, recuperation etc. 159; restoration, revival etc. 660; repair, refection, refocillation^†, refreshment, regalement^†, bait; relief etc. 834.    break, spell.    refreshment stand; refreshments; [Refreshments], ice cream, cold soda, soda pop, hot dogs (food). ... show more

Dutch: onderbreking

An unexpected piece of good luck:
— He finally got his big break.

synonyms: good luck, happy chance.

geology A crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other.

synonyms: fault, faulting, fracture, geological fault, shift.

Roget 70: discontinuity; disjunction etc. 44; anacoluthon^†; interruption, break, fracture, flaw, fault, crack, cut; gap etc. (interval) 198; solution of continuity, caesura; broken thread; parenthesis, episode, rhapsody, patchwork; intermission; alternation etc. (periodicity) 138; dropping fire.    ... show more

Roget 947: guilt, guiltiness; culpability; criminality, criminousness^†; deviation from rectitude etc. (improbity) 940^†; sinfulness etc. (vice) 945.    misconduct, misbehavior, misdoing, misdeed; malpractice, fault, sin, error, transgression; dereliction, delinquency; indiscretion, lapse, slip, trip, faux pas [Fr.], peccadillo; flaw, blot, omission; failing, failure; break, bad break! [U.S.], capital crime, delictum [Lat.].    offense, trespass; misdemeanor, misfeasance, misprision; malefaction, malfeasance, malversation; crime, felony.    enormity, atrocity, outrage; deadly sin, mortal sin; deed without a name" [Macbeth]. corpus delicti.    ... show more

Dutch: breuk, breuklijn
Polish: uskok

A personal or social separation (as between opposing factions):
— They hoped to avoid a break in relations.

synonyms: breach, falling out, rift, rupture, severance.

Roget 44: disjunction, disconnection, disunity, disunion, disassociation, disengagement; discontinuity etc. 70; abjunction^†; cataclasm^†; inconnection^†; abstraction, abstractedness; isolation; insularity, insulation; oasis; island; separateness etc. adj.; severalty; disjecta membra [Lat.]; dispersion etc. 73; apportionment etc. 786.    separation; parting etc. v.; circumcision; detachment, segregation; divorce, sejunction^†, seposition^†, diduction^†, diremption^†, discerption^†; elision; caesura, break, fracture, division, subdivision, rupture; compartition^†; dismemberment, dislocation; luxation^†; severance, disseverance; scission; rescission, abscission; laceration, dilaceration^†; disruption, abruption^†; avulsion^†, divulsion^†; section, resection, cleavage; fission; partibility^†, separability.    fissure, breach, rent, split, rift, crack, slit, incision.    dissection anatomy; decomposition etc. 49; cutting instrument etc. (sharpness) 253; buzzsaw, circular saw, rip saw.    separatist.    ... show more

Polish: oddzielenie

A pause from doing something (as work):
— We took a 10-minute break.

synonyms: recess, respite, time out.

Dutch: speelkwartier, time-out
Polish: przerywanie

The act of breaking something:
— The breakage was unavoidable.

synonyms: breakage, breaking.

Polish: rozbicie

A time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something.

synonyms: intermission, interruption, pause, suspension.

Dutch: onderbreking, break, pauze, rustpauze
Polish: przerwa, intermezzo

Breaking of hard tissue such as bone:
— The break seems to have been caused by a fall.

synonym: fracture.

Dutch: botbreuk, breuk
Polish: złamanie

The occurrence of breaking.

Dutch: breuk, doorbraak

An abrupt change in the tone or register of the voice (as at puberty or due to emotion).

The opening shot that scatters the balls in billiards or pool.

tennis A score consisting of winning a game when your opponent was serving:
— He was up two breaks in the second set.

synonym: break of serve.

An act of delaying or interrupting the continuity:
— It was presented without commercial breaks.

synonyms: disruption, gap, interruption.

Roget 198: interval, interspace^†; separation etc. 44; break, gap, opening; hole etc. 260; chasm, hiatus, caesura; interruption, interregnum; interstice, lacuna, cleft, mesh, crevice, chink, rime, creek, cranny, crack, chap, slit, fissure, scissure^†, rift, flaw, breach, rent, gash, cut, leak, dike, ha-ha.    gorge, defile, ravine, canon, crevasse, abyss, abysm; gulf; inlet, frith^†, strait, gully; pass; furrow etc. 259; abra^†; barranca^†, barranco^†; clove [U.S.], gulch [U.S.], notch [U.S.]; yawning gulf; hiatus maxime [Lat.], hiatus valde deflendus [Lat.]; parenthesis etc. (interjacence) 228^†; void etc. (absence) 187; incompleteness etc. 53.    [interval of time] period etc. 108; interim (time) 106.    ... show more

Roget 53: incompleteness etc. adj.; deficiency, short measure; shortcoming etc. 304; insufficiency etc. 640; imperfection etc. 651; immaturity etc. (nonpreparation) 674; half measures.    [part wanting] defect, deficit, defalcation, omission; caret; shortage; interval etc. 198; break etc. (discontinuity) 70; noncompletion etc. 730; missing link.    missing piece, missing part, gap, hole, lacuna.    ... show more

Dutch: verstoring

A sudden dash.

Any frame in which a bowler fails to make a strike or spare:
— The break in the eighth frame cost him the match.

synonym: open frame.

An escape from jail:
— The breakout was carefully planned.

synonyms: breakout, gaolbreak, jailbreak, prison-breaking, prisonbreak.

Dutch: ontsnapping, uitbraak

Terminate:
— Break a lucky streak.
— Break the cycle of poverty.

synonym: interrupt.

Become separated into pieces or fragments.

synonyms: come apart, fall apart, separate, split up.

Dutch: schiften, begeven, bezwijken, kapotgaan, stukgaan

Render inoperable or ineffective.

Dutch: kapotmaken, moeren, mollen

Ruin completely.

synonym: bust.

Destroy the integrity of; usually by force; cause to separate into pieces or fragments.

Dutch: stukmaken, kapotgaan, stukgaan, overtreden, breken, doorbreken

Act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises:
— Break a law.
— Break a promise.

synonyms: breach, go against, infract, offend, transgress, violate.

Roget 773: fail, neglect, omit, elude, evade, give the go-by to, set aside, ignore; shut one's eyes to, close one's eyes to.    infringe, transgress, violate, pirate, break, trample under foot, do violence to, drive a coach and six through.    discard, protest, repudiate, fling to the winds, set at naught, nullify, declare null and void; cancel etc. (wipe off) 552.    retract, go back from, be off, forfeit, go from one's word, palter; stretch a point, strain a point.    ... show more

Roget 927: violate; break, break through; infringe; set aside, set at naught; encroach upon, trench upon; trample on, trample under foot; slight, neglect, evade, renounce, forswear, repudiate; wash one's hands of; escape, transgress, fail.    call to account etc. (disapprobation) 932.    ... show more

Dutch: misdoen, schenden, verbreken

Move away or escape suddenly:
— Nobody can break out--this prison is high security.

synonyms: break away, break out.

Scatter or part.

Force out or release suddenly and often violently something pent up:
— Break into tears.

synonyms: burst, erupt.

Prevent completion:
— Break off the negotiations.

synonyms: break off, discontinue, stop.

Roget 756: abrogate, annul, cancel; destroy etc. 162; abolish; revoke, repeal, rescind, reverse, retract, recall; abolitionize^†; overrule, override; set aside; disannul, dissolve, quash, nullify, declare null and void; disestablish, disendow^†; deconsecrate.    disclaim etc. (deny) 536; ignore, repudiate; recant etc. 607; divest oneself, break off.    countermand, counter order; do away with; sweep away, brush away; throw overboard, throw to the dogs; scatter to the winds, cast behind.    dismiss, discard; cast off, turn off, cast out, cast adrift, cast out of doors, cast aside, cast away; send off, send away, send packing, send about one's business; discharge, get rid of etc. (eject) 297; bounce [U.S.]; fire [Slang], fire out [Slang]; sack [Slang].    cashier; break; oust; unseat, unsaddle; unthrone^†, dethrone, disenthrone^†; depose, uncrown^†; unfrock, strike off the roll; disbar, disbench^†.    be abrogated &c.; receive its quietus; walk the plank.    ... show more

Roget 70: be discontinuous etc. adj.; alternate, intermit, sputter, stop and start, hesitate.    discontinue, pause, interrupt; intervene; break, break in upon, break off; interpose etc. 228; break the thread, snap the thread; disconnect etc. (disjoin) 44; dissever.    ... show more

Dutch: afbreken, staken

Enter someone's (virtual or real) property in an unauthorized manner, usually with the intent to steal or commit a violent act.

synonym: break in.

Roget 537: teach, instruct, educate, edify, school, tutor; cram, prime, coach; enlighten etc. (inform) 527.    inculcate, indoctrinate, inoculate, infuse, instill, infix, ingraft^†, infiltrate; imbue, impregnate, implant; graft, sow the seeds of, disseminate.    given an idea of; put up to, put in the way of; set right.    sharpen the wits, enlarge the mind; give new ideas, open the eyes, bring forward, teach the young idea how to shoot" [Thomson]; improve etc. 658.    expound etc. (interpret) 522; lecture; read a lesson, give a lesson, give a lecture, give a sermon, give a discourse; incept^†; hold forth, preach; sermonize, moralize; point a moral.    train, discipline; bring up, bring up to; form, ground, prepare, qualify; drill, exercise, practice, habituate, familiarize with, nurture, drynurse^†, breed, rear, take in hand; break, break in; tame; preinstruct^†; initiate; inure etc. (habituate) 613.    put to nurse, send to school.    direct, guide; direct attention to etc. (attention) 457; impress upon the mind, impress upon the memory; beat into, beat into the head; convince etc. (belief) 484.    [instructional materials] book, workbook, exercise book.    [unnecessary teaching] preach to the wise, teach one's grandmother to suck eggs, teach granny to suck eggs; preach to the converted.    ... show more

Make submissive, obedient, or useful:
— The horse was tough to break.

synonym: break in.

Fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns.

synonyms: go against, violate.

Surpass in excellence:
— Break a record.

synonym: better.

Dutch: breken

Make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret.

synonyms: bring out, disclose, discover, divulge, expose, give away, let on, let out, reveal, uncover, unwrap ... show more.

Roget 479: confute, refute, disprove; parry, negative, controvert, rebut, confound, disconfirm, redargue^†, expose, show the fallacy of, defeat; demolish, break etc. (destroy) 162; overthrow, overturn scatter to the winds, explode, invalidate; silence; put to silence, reduce to silence; clinch an argument, clinch a question; give one a setdown^†, stop the mouth, shut up; have, have on the hip.    not leave a leg to stand on, cut the ground from under one's feet.    be confuted &c.; fail; expose one's weak point, show one's weak point.    counter evidence etc. 468.    ... show more

Roget 529: disclose, discover, dismask^†; draw the veil, draw aside the veil, lift the veil, raise the veil, lift up the veil, remove the veil, tear aside the veil, tear the curtain; unmask, unveil, unfold, uncover, unseal, unkennel; take off the seal, break the seal; lay open, lay bare; expose; open, open up; bare, bring to light.    divulge, reveal, break; squeal [Coll.], tattle [Coll.], sing [Coll.], rat [Coll.], snitch [Coll.]; let into the secret; reveal the secrets of the prison house; tell etc. (inform) 527; breathe, utter, blab, peach; let out, let fall, let drop, let slip, spill the beans, let the cat out of the bag; betray; tell tales, come out of school; come out with; give vent, give utterance to; open the lips, blurt out, vent, whisper about; speak out etc. (make manifest) 525; make public etc. 531; unriddle etc. (find out) 480.1; split.    acknowledge, allow, concede, grant, admit, own, own up to, confess, avow, throw off all disguise, turn inside out, make a clean breast; show one's hand, show one's cards; unburden one's mind, disburden one's mind, disburden one's conscience, disburden one's heart; open one's mind, lay bare one's mind, tell a piece of one's mind [Fr.]; unbosom oneself, own to the soft impeachment; say the truth, speak the truth; turn King's evidence, Queen's evidence; acknowledge the corn [U.S.].    raise the mask, drop the mask, lift the mask, remove the mask, throw off the mask; expose; lay open; undeceive^†, unbeguile^†; disabuse, set right, correct, open the eyes of; d_esillusionner.    be disclosed &c.; transpire, come to light; come in sight etc. (be visible) 446; become known, escape the lips; come out, ooze out, creep out, leak out, peep out, crop-out; show its face, show its colors; discover itself &c.; break through the clouds, flash on the mind.    ... show more

Dutch: blootleggen, ontboezemen, onthullen, ontsluieren, openbaren, reveleren, uitgieten, uitstorten

Come into being.

Stop operating or functioning.

synonyms: break down, conk out, die, fail, give out, give way, go, go bad.

Roget 808: not pay etc. 807; fail, break, stop payment; become insolvent, become bankrupt; be gazetted.    protest, dishonor, repudiate, nullify, refuse payment.    pay under protest; button up one's pockets, draw the purse strings; apply the sponge; pay over the left shoulder, get whitewashed; swindle etc. 791; run up bills, fly kites.    ... show more

Dutch: overlijden, het laten afweten, afslaan, afspringen

Interrupt a continued activity.

synonym: break away.

Make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one's own by quitting or fleeing.

Curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves.

Lessen in force or effect:
— Break a fall.

synonyms: damp, dampen, soften, weaken.

Be broken in.

Come to an end.

Vary or interrupt a uniformity or continuity.

Cause to give up a habit.

Give up.

Come forth or begin from a state of latency.

Happen or take place.

Cause the failure or ruin of.

Invalidate by judicial action.

Discontinue an association or relation; go different ways.

synonyms: break up, part, separate, split, split up.

Roget 44: be disjoined &c.; come off, fall off, come to pieces, fall to pieces; peel off; get loose.    disjoin, disconnect, disengage, disunite, dissociate, dispair^†; divorce, part, dispart^†, detach, separate, cut off, rescind, segregate; set apart, keep apart; insulate, isolate; throw out of gear; cut adrift; loose; unloose, undo, unbind, unchain, unlock etc. (fix) 43, unpack, unravel; disentangle; set free etc. (liberate) 750.    sunder, divide, subdivide, sever, dissever, abscind^†; circumcise; cut; incide^†, incise; saw, snip, nib, nip, cleave, rive, rend, slit, split, splinter, chip, crack, snap, break, tear, burst; rend &c., rend asunder, rend in twain; wrench, rupture, shatter, shiver, cranch^†, crunch, craunch^†, chop; cut up, rip up; hack, hew, slash; whittle; haggle, hackle, discind^†, lacerate, scamble^†, mangle, gash, hash, slice.    cut up, carve, dissect, anatomize; dislimb^†; take to pieces, pull to pieces, pick to pieces, tear to pieces; tear to tatters, tear piecemeal, tear limb from limb; divellicate^†; skin etc. 226; disintegrate, dismember, disbranch^†, disband; disperse etc. 73; dislocate, disjoint; break up; mince; comminute etc. (pulverize) 330; apportion etc. 786.    part, part company; separate, leave.    ... show more

Roget 51: part, divide, break etc. (disjoin) 44; partition etc. (apportion) 786.   

Roget 328: be brittle etc. adj.; live in a glass house.    break, crack, snap, split, shiver, splinter, crumble, break short, burst, fly, give way; fall to pieces; crumble to, crumble into dust.    ... show more

Assign to a lower position; reduce in rank.

synonyms: bump, demote, kick downstairs, relegate.

Dutch: degraderen

Reduce to bankruptcy:
— My daughter's fancy wedding is going to break me!.

synonyms: bankrupt, ruin, smash.

Change directions suddenly.

Emerge from the surface of a body of water.

Break down, literally or metaphorically.

synonyms: cave in, collapse, fall in, founder, give, give way.

Dutch: meegeven

Do a break dance:
— Kids were break-dancing at the street corner.

synonyms: break-dance, break dance.

Exchange for smaller units of money.

Destroy the completeness of a set of related items:
— The book dealer would not break the set.

synonym: break up.

Polish: zdekompletowanie się

Make the opening shot that scatters the balls.

Separate from a clinch, in boxing.

Go to pieces.

synonyms: bust, fall apart, wear, wear out.

Dutch: breken, sneuvelen

Break a piece from a whole:
— Break a branch from a tree.

synonyms: break off, snap off.

Become punctured or penetrated.

Pierce or penetrate.

Be released or become known; of news.

synonyms: get around, get out.

Cease an action temporarily:
— Let's break for lunch.

synonyms: intermit, pause.

Dutch: pauzeren

Interrupt the flow of current in.

Undergo breaking.

Find a flaw in.

Find the solution or key to.

Change suddenly from one tone quality or register to another.

Dutch: breken

Happen.

synonyms: develop, recrudesce.

Become fractured; break or crack on the surface only.

synonyms: check, crack.

Dutch: kraken, barsten, bersten, kloven

Crack; of the male voice in puberty.

Dutch: overslaan

Fall sharply.

Dutch: breken

Fracture a bone of.

synonym: fracture.

Diminish or discontinue abruptly.

Weaken or destroy in spirit or body.