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Implode and Break

implode

verb

  • Burst inward.
    • usage: "The bottle imploded"
WordNet 3.0 © 2006 by Princeton University
break
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

noun

  • Some abrupt occurrence that interrupts an ongoing activity.
    • usage: "the telephone is an annoying interruption"; "there was a break in the action when a player was hurt"
  • An unexpected piece of good luck.
    • usage: "he finally got his big break"
  • Geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other. (
    • usage: "they built it right over a geological fault"; "he studied the faulting of the earth's crust"
  • A personal or social separation (as between opposing factions. )
    • usage: "they hoped to avoid a break in relations"
  • A pause from doing something (as work. )
    • usage: "we took a 10-minute break"; "he took time out to recuperate"
  • The act of breaking something.
    • usage: "the breakage was unavoidable"
  • A time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something.
  • Breaking of hard tissue such as bone.
    • usage: "it was a nasty fracture"; "the break seems to have been caused by a fall"
  • The occurrence of breaking.
    • usage: "the break in the dam threatened the valley"
  • An abrupt change in the tone or register of the voice (as at puberty or due to emotion. )
    • usage: "then there was a break in her voice"
  • The opening shot that scatters the balls in billiards or pool.
  • Tennis) a score consisting of winning a game when your opponent was serving. (
    • usage: "he was up two breaks in the second set"
  • An act of delaying or interrupting the continuity.
    • usage: "it was presented without commercial breaks"; "there was a gap in his account"
  • A sudden dash.
    • usage: "he made a break for the open door"
  • Any frame in which a bowler fails to make a strike or spare.
    • usage: "the break in the eighth frame cost him the match"
  • An escape from jail.
    • usage: "the breakout was carefully planned"

verb

  • Terminate.
    • usage: "She interrupted her pregnancy"; "break a lucky streak"; "break the cycle of poverty"
  • Become separated into pieces or fragments.
    • usage: "The figurine broke"; "The freshly baked loaf fell apart"
  • Render inoperable or ineffective.
    • usage: "You broke the alarm clock when you took it apart"
  • Ruin completely.
    • usage: "He busted my radio"
  • Destroy the integrity of; usually by force; cause to separate into pieces or fragments.
    • usage: "He broke the glass plate"; "She broke the match"
  • Act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises.
    • usage: "offend all laws of humanity"; "violate the basic laws or human civilization"; "break a law"; "break a promise"
  • Move away or escape suddenly.
    • usage: "The horses broke from the stable"; "Three inmates broke jail"; "Nobody can break out-this prison is high security"
  • Scatter or part.
    • usage: "The clouds broke after the heavy downpour"
  • Force out or release suddenly and often violently something pent up.
    • usage: "break into tears"; "erupt in anger"
  • Prevent completion.
    • usage: "stop the project"; "break off the negotiations"
  • Enter someone's (virtual or real) property in an unauthorized manner, usually with the intent to steal or commit a violent act.
    • usage: "Someone broke in while I was on vacation"; "They broke into my car and stole my radio"; "who broke into my account last night"
  • Make submissive, obedient, or useful.
    • usage: "The horse was tough to break"; "I broke in the new intern"
  • Fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns.
    • usage: "This sentence violates the rules of syntax"
  • Surpass in excellence.
    • usage: "She bettered her own record"; "break a record"
  • Make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret.
    • usage: "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"
  • Come into being.
    • usage: "light broke over the horizon"; "Voices broke in the air"
  • Stop operating or functioning.
    • usage: "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"
  • Interrupt a continued activity.
    • usage: "She had broken with the traditional patterns"
  • Make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one's own by quitting or fleeing.
    • usage: "The ranks broke"
  • Curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves.
    • usage: "The surf broke"
  • Lessen in force or effect.
    • usage: "soften a shock"; "break a fall"
  • Be broken in.
    • usage: "If the new teacher won't break, we'll add some stress"
  • Come to an end.
    • usage: "The heat wave finally broke yesterday"
  • Vary or interrupt a uniformity or continuity.
    • usage: "The flat plain was broken by tall mesas"
  • Cause to give up a habit.
    • usage: "She finally broke herself of smoking cigarettes"
  • Give up.
    • usage: "break cigarette smoking"
  • Come forth or begin from a state of latency.
    • usage: "The first winter storm broke over New York"
  • Happen or take place.
    • usage: "Things have been breaking pretty well for us in the past few months"
  • Cause the failure or ruin of.
    • usage: "His peccadilloes finally broke his marriage"; "This play will either make or break the playwright"
  • Invalidate by judicial action.
    • usage: "The will was broken"
  • Discontinue an association or relation; go different ways.
    • usage: "The business partners broke over a tax question"; "The couple separated after 25 years of marriage"; "My friend and I split up"
  • Assign to a lower position; reduce in rank.
    • usage: "She was demoted because she always speaks up"; "He was broken down to Sergeant"
  • Reduce to bankruptcy.
    • usage: "My daughter's fancy wedding is going to break me"; "The slump in the financial markets smashed him"
  • Change directions suddenly.
  • Emerge from the surface of a body of water.
    • usage: "The whales broke"
  • Break down, literally or metaphorically.
    • usage: "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"
  • Do a break dance.
    • usage: "Kids were break-dancing at the street corner"
  • Exchange for smaller units of money.
    • usage: "I had to break a $100 bill just to buy the candy"
  • Destroy the completeness of a set of related items.
    • usage: "The book dealer would not break the set"
  • Make the opening shot that scatters the balls.
  • Separate from a clinch, in boxing.
    • usage: "The referee broke the boxers"
  • Go to pieces.
    • usage: "The lawn mower finally broke"; "The gears wore out"; "The old chair finally fell apart completely"
  • Break a piece from a whole.
    • usage: "break a branch from a tree"
  • Become punctured or penetrated.
    • usage: "The skin broke"
  • Pierce or penetrate.
    • usage: "The blade broke her skin"
  • Be released or become known; of news.
    • usage: "News of her death broke in the morning"
  • Cease an action temporarily.
    • usage: "We pause for station identification"; "let's break for lunch"
  • Interrupt the flow of current in.
    • usage: "break a circuit"
  • Undergo breaking.
    • usage: "The simple vowels broke in many Germanic languages"
  • Find a flaw in.
    • usage: "break an alibi"; "break down a proof"
  • Find the solution or key to.
    • usage: "break the code"
  • Change suddenly from one tone quality or register to another.
    • usage: "Her voice broke to a whisper when she started to talk about her children"
  • Happen.
    • usage: "Report the news as it develops"; "These political movements recrudesce from time to time"
  • Become fractured; break or crack on the surface only.
    • usage: "The glass cracked when it was heated"
  • Crack; of the male voice in puberty.
    • usage: "his voice is breaking-he should no longer sing in the choir"
  • Fall sharply.
    • usage: "stock prices broke"
  • Fracture a bone of.
    • usage: "I broke my foot while playing hockey"
  • Diminish or discontinue abruptly.
    • usage: "The patient's fever broke last night"
  • Weaken or destroy in spirit or body.
    • usage: "His resistance was broken"; "a man broken by the terrible experience of near-death"
WordNet 3.0 © 2006 by Princeton University

Break is a rapid and sharp price decline. Related: Crash.

Implode and Break in Power Thesaurus