icebreaker

See also: ice-breaker and ice breaker

English

Alternative forms

• ice breaker, ice-breaker

Etymology

From ice +‎ breaker, in the figurative sense from the expression to break the ice.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈaɪsˌbɹeɪkəɹ/

Noun

icebreaker (plural icebreakers)

1. A ship designed to break through ice so that it, or other ships coming behind, can navigate on frozen seas.

   Coordinate term: slushbreaker

   The steel hulls of ice-breakers are much thicker than those of standard vessels.

   • 2004, Martin Torgoff, “Fearless, Immune, and Ready for All”, in Can’t Find My Way Home: America in the Great Stoned Age, 1945–2000, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 11:

     My father's Bonneville was cutting its way toward us like an icebreaker moving through my whole state of consciousness.

2. (figurative) A game, activity, humorous anecdote, etc., designed to relax a group of people to help them get to know each other.

   The new college hallmates were awkward with each other at first, but after a game of charades as an icebreaker, they were laughing like old friends.

   • 2011, Elaine Biech, chapter 11, in The Book of Road-Tested Activities, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:

     The key purpose of an icebreaker is to introduce your group members to each other and to introduce your training session topic. A well-planned icebreaker ensures that a training session will start with more involvement and focus.

3. (theater) A lively song and dance routine at the start of a musical.
   • 2014, Maggie Davis, Stage Door Canteen:

     At the moment the curtain went up there had to be a lively ensemble number of principals and chorus singing and dancing, the traditional “icebreaker” that also covered up the noise of late-arriving ticket holders getting to their seats.

Derived terms

• heavy icebreaker
• oblique icebreaker

 

Translations

ship designed to break through ice

• Arabic: كَسَّارَةْ جَلِيد f (kassārat jalīd)
• Armenian: սառցահատ (hy) (saṙcʻahat)
• Azerbaijani: buzqıran
• Belarusian: ледако́л m (ljedakól)
• Bulgarian: ледоразбивач m (ledorazbivač)
• Catalan: trencaglaç (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 破冰船 (zh) (pòbīngchuán)

• Czech: ledoborec (cs) m
• Danish: isbryder (da) c
• Dutch: ijsbreker (nl) m
• Esperanto: glacirompilo
• Estonian: jäälõhkuja
• Finnish: jäänmurtaja (fi)
• French: brise-glace (fr) m
• Galician: crebaxeos m
• German: Eisbrecher (de) m
• Greek: παγοθραύστης (el) m (pagothráfstis), παγοθραυστικό (el) n (pagothrafstikó), παγοθραυστικό πλοίο n (pagothrafstikó ploío)
• Hebrew: שוברת קרח (he)
• Hungarian: jégtörő (hu), jégtörő hajó
• Ingrian: jermakka
• Italian: rompighiaccio (it) m
• Japanese: 砕氷船 (ja) (さいひょうせん, saihyōsen)
• Korean: 쇄빙선(碎氷船) (ko) (swaebingseon)
• Latvian: ledlauzis (lv)
• Lithuanian: ledlaužis
• Luxembourgish: Äisbriecher m
• Macedonian: мразокр́шач m (mrazokŕšač)
• Malay: kapal pemecah air batu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: isbryter m

• Polish: lodołamacz (pl) m
• Portuguese: quebra-gelo (pt) m
• Romanian: spărgător de gheață (ro) n
• Russian: ледоко́л (ru) m (ledokól)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ледоломац m

  Roman: ledolomac (sh) m

• Slovak: ľadoborec m
• Slovene: ledolomilec m
• Spanish: rompehielos m
• Swedish: isbrytare (sv) c
• Thai: เรือตัดน้ำแข็ง
• Turkish: buzkıran (tr)
• Ukrainian: кригола́м (uk) m (kryholám)
• Vietnamese: tàu phá băng

game, anecdote, or other activity to help introduce people

• Dutch: ijsbreker (nl) m
• Esperanto: interkono
• Finnish: kevennys
• German: Kennenlernspiel n
• Hungarian: (literal) jégtörő (hu), bemelegítő (hu), bemelegítés (hu), ráhangoló, ráhangolódás, feloldódás (hu)
• Swedish: isbrytare (sv) c
• Thai: กิจกรรมละลายพฤติกรรม

See also

• break the ice
• passagemaker
• social lubricant

Further reading

• Conversation opener on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• icebreaker on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “icebreaker”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.