break down
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See also: breakdown
English[edit]
Verb[edit]
break down (third-person singular simple present breaks down, present participle breaking down, simple past broke down, past participle broken down or (informal) broke down)
- (intransitive) To stop functioning. (machine, computer, vehicle)
- I am afraid my computer will break down if I try to run it at too high a speed.
- (intransitive) To collapse, physically or in structure. (unexpectedly)
- (transitive) To demolish, to pull down. (intentionally)
- (intransitive) To cease to function. (others)
- (intransitive) To fail, especially socially or for political reasons.
- Talks broke down between Prime Minister John Doe and the opposition party.
- Relations broke down between Greece and Turkey.
- (intransitive, idiomatic) To give in, relent, concede, or surrender.
- Is it worth taking it to a repair shop, or should I just break down and buy a new one?
- (ergative, figuratively) To render or to become unstable due to stress, to collapse physically or mentally.
- She is back to work now, after she broke down the other day.
- 1922, Ben Travers, A Cuckoo in the Nest, chapter 6:
- Sophia broke down here. Even at this moment she was subconsciously comparing her rendering of the part of the forlorn bride with Miss Marie Lohr's.
- 1936 Sept. 15, F. Scott Fitzgerald, letter to Beatrice Dance:
- As to Ernest... He is quite as nervously broken down as I am but it manifests itself in different ways. His inclination is towards megalomania and mine towards melancholy.
- (ergative, figuratively) To render or to become weak and ineffective.
- His authority and influence over his coordinates broke down gradually.
- 2012 June 2, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Belgium”, in BBC Sport:
- Hodgson's approach may not illuminate proceedings in Poland and Ukraine but early evidence suggests they will be tough to break down.
- (ergative) To (cause to) decay, to decompose.
- Leaves and grass will break down into compost faster if you keep them moist.
- To separate into a number of parts.
- 1950 June, N. H. Bousfield, “Angers, a French Provincial Railway Centre”, in Railway Magazine, page 371:
- The goods station is a transhipment centre (centre de transbordement) at which loads made up at other centres are broken down and redespatched to destinations in the area.
- (ergative, figuratively) To divide into parts to give more details, to provide a more indepth analysis of.
- If you don't understand, ask him to break down the numbers for you.
- (ergative) To digest.
- His stomach took a while to break down his food.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
(machine) to stop functioning
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(computer) to stop functioning
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(vehicle) to stop functioning
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to collapse unexpectedly, physically or in structure
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to pull down intentionally
to cease to function; (others than above)
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to fail, especially socially or for political reasons
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to become unstable or collapse, mentally or otherwise
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to become weak and ineffective
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to decay
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to divide into parts for analysis
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to digest
See also[edit]
Noun[edit]
break down (plural break downs)
- Misspelling of breakdown.
See also[edit]
Categories:
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English phrasal verbs
- English phrasal verbs with particle (down)
- English multiword terms
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English transitive verbs
- English idioms
- English ergative verbs
- English terms with quotations
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English misspellings