break a sweat

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

break a sweat (third-person singular simple present breaks a sweat, present participle breaking a sweat, simple past broke a sweat, past participle broken a sweat)

1. To start sweating.
   • 2001, Karon Karter, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Pilates Method‎^[1], →ISBN, page 119:

     Are you feeling stronger and more energetic, and even—dare I say it—breaking a sweat? No, not a pink-faced, dripping sweat; nevertheless, a little dewy under the arms and around your forehead.

2. (idiomatic, chiefly in the negative) To put effort into something.

   He succeeded effortlessly, without breaking a sweat.

   • 2008 January 17, Richard Hinds, “Walkovers blaze a trail for women's equal-pay theory”, in The Age, Australia:

     Consider, for instance, that Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Marat Safin and even the supposedly out-of-sorts Lleyton Hewitt all won the opening set of their first-round matches 6-0 before barely breaking a sweat in the two sets that followed.

   • 2018 March 6, Martin Robinson, “Dispelling the myths of Bloodborne”, in Eurogamer‎^[2]:

     I've stumbled over gaming's simplest hurdles, been humiliated by the lowliest of enemies and will often go for an easy mode if one's available, and yet I've run through Bloodborne twice without ever really breaking much of a sweat.

Translations

to start sweating

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: քրտնել (hy) (kʻrtnel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 出汗 (zh) (chūhàn)

• Czech: zpotit se
• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: tulla hikeen (fi)
• French: se mettre à transpirer, commencer à transpirer
• German: ins Schwitzen kommen
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Japanese: 汗をかく (ja) (あせをかく, ase o kaku)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: napocić się pf
• Portuguese: começar a suar
• Russian: вспоте́ть (ru) pf (vspotétʹ)
• Spanish: comenzar a sudar, empezar a sudar
• Vietnamese: đổ mồ hôi

to put effort into something

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: ջանք թափել (ǰankʻ tʻapʻel)
• Bengali: মাথার ঘাম পায়ে ফেলা (bn) (mathar gham paẏe phela)
• Czech: zpotit se
• Dutch: er flink voor werken
• Finnish: tulla hikeen (fi)
• French: (without ...) sans broncher (fr), (without ...) sans sourciller (fr)
• German: sich ins Zeug legen (de), ins Schwitzen kommen
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Mandarin: 费劲 (zh) (fèijìn)
• Polish: napocić się pf
• Portuguese: esforçar-se
• Russian: приложи́ть уси́лия pf (priložítʹ usílija), пошевели́ть па́льцем (poševelítʹ pálʹcem)
• Spanish: sudar la gota gorda
• Turkish: ter dökmek (tr)
• Vietnamese: đổ mồ hôi