break down

English

Alternative forms

• breakdown

Verb

break down (third-person singular simple present breaks down, present participle breaking down, simple past broke down, past participle broke down, broken down or (informal) brokedown)

1. to fail

   I am afraid my computer will break down if I try to run it at too high a speed.

2. to become unstable, mentally or otherwise.

   She is back to work now, after her break down.

3. to decay

   Leaves and grass will break down into compost faster if you keep them moist.

4. to give more detail

   If you don't understand, ask him to break down the numbers for you.

5. to digest

   His stomach took a while to break down his food.

See also

• break it down

Translations

to fail

Dutch: kapotgaan (nl), stukgaan (nl), falen (nl) Esperanto: panei (eo) Finnish: hajota (fi) Georgian: გაფუჭდა (ka), მოიშალა (ka)

Hungarian: felmondja a szolgálatot (hu) Persian: از کار افتادن (fa) Spanish: fallar (es), descomponerse (es), averiarse (es)

to become unstable, mentally or otherwise

Finnish: murtua, luhistua, saada hermoromahdus Greek: καταρρέω (el) (katarréo)

Spanish: transtornarse (es)

to decay

Dutch: ontbinden (nl) Finnish: maatua (fi)

Spanish: descomponerse (es), echarse a perder (es)

to give more detail