Background for breaks

breaks

/bɹeɪks/

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noun

An instance of breaking something into two or more pieces.

Examples :

"The femur has a clean break and so should heal easily."

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noun

A physical space that opens up in something or between two things.

Examples :

"He waited minutes for a break in the traffic to cross the highway."

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noun

A rest or pause, usually from work.

Examples :

"Let’s take a five-minute break."

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noun

A time for students to talk or play.

Examples :

"During the morning break, the children talked about their weekend adventures. "

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noun

A short holiday.

Examples :

"a weekend break on the Isle of Wight"

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noun

A temporary split with a romantic partner.

Examples :

"I think we need a break."

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noun

An interval or intermission between two parts of a performance, for example a theatre show, broadcast, or sports game.

Examples :

""During the school day, we have two short breaks and one long lunch break." "

entertainment time stage

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noun

A significant change in circumstance, attitude, perception, or focus of attention.

Examples :

"big break"

attitude mind action event

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noun

The beginning (of the morning).

Examples :

"at the break of day"

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noun

An act of escaping.

Examples :

"It was a clean break."

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noun

The separation between lines, paragraphs or pages of a written text.

Examples :

"The student marked the breaks in the essay with a highlighter, making it easier to see the separate paragraphs. "

writing language grammar literature communication

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noun

A keystroke or other signal that causes a program to terminate or suspend execution.

Examples :

"The programmer added error handling to prevent unexpected breaks from crashing the application. "

computing technology electronics signal device machine

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noun

A point or condition in a program at which operation may be suspended during debugging so that the state of the program at that point can be investigated. A breakpoint.

Examples :

"The programmer set several breaks in the code to check if the calculations were correct. "

computing technical technology

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noun

A change, particularly the end of a spell of persistent good or bad weather.

Examples :

"After weeks of non-stop sunshine, we finally had some breaks in the weather with scattered showers. "

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noun verb

:

Examples :

"The construction worker takes short breaks to rest and drink water. "

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noun

A large four-wheeled carriage, having a straight body and calash top, with the driver's seat in front and the footman's behind.

Examples :

"The wealthy family arrived at the picnic in their breaks, drawn by a team of perfectly matched horses, the driver perched high in front. "

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noun

(equitation) A sharp bit or snaffle.

Examples :

"The experienced horse trainer preferred using a variety of gentler snaffles, reserving the use of breaks for horses with exceptionally strong mouths or stubborn habits. "

animal utensil technical

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noun

A short section of music, often between verses, in which some performers stop while others continue.

Examples :

"The fiddle break was amazing; it was a pity the singer came back in on the wrong note."

music entertainment

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noun

The point in the musical scale at which a woodwind instrument is designed to overblow, that is, to move from its lower to its upper register.

Examples :

"Crossing the break smoothly is one of the first lessons the young clarinettist needs to master."

music technical

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noun

Usu. plural An area along a river that features steep banks, bluffs, or gorges (e.g., Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, US).

Examples :

"The boat trip took us through the most scenic parts of the river, including the impressive breaks with their high cliffs and rocky formations. "

geography environment geology area nature place

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noun

A section of extended repetition of the percussion break to a song, created by a hip-hop DJ as rhythmic dance music.

Examples :

"The DJ extended the song with long breaks, giving the dancers plenty of time to show off their best moves. "

music dance entertainment

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verb

To separate into two or more pieces, to fracture or crack, by a process that cannot easily be reversed for reassembly.

Examples :

"If the vase falls to the floor, it might break."

action physics process

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verb

To divide (something, often money) into smaller units.

Examples :

"Can you break a hundred-dollar bill for me?"

business finance economy

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verb

To cause (a person or animal) to lose spirit or will; to crush the spirits of.

Examples :

"The constant criticism from her boss eventually breaks her, and she quits her job. "

mind emotion human character

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verb

To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief.

Examples :

"My heart is breaking."

emotion suffering mind

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verb

To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate.

Examples :

"The loud construction noise breaks my concentration while I'm trying to study. "

action process time

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verb

To ruin financially.

Examples :

"The recession broke some small businesses."

business finance

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verb

To violate, to not adhere to.

Examples :

"He broke his vows by cheating on his wife."

law moral action

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verb

(of a fever) To pass the most dangerous part of the illness; to go down, in terms of temperature.

Examples :

""After three days of a high fever, we were relieved when the doctor said his fever finally breaks tonight." "

medicine disease physiology body

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verb

(of a spell of settled weather) To end.

Examples :

"The forecast says the hot weather will break by midweek."

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verb

(of a storm) To begin; to end.

Examples :

"Around midday the storm broke, and the afternoon was calm and sunny."

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verb

(of morning, dawn, day etc.) To arrive.

Examples :

"Morning has broken."

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verb

To render (a game) unchallenging by altering its rules or exploiting loopholes or weaknesses in them in a way that gives a player an unfair advantage.

Examples :

"Changing the rules to let white have three extra queens would break chess."

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verb

To stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether.

Examples :

"Did you two break the trolley by racing with it?"

function machine technical

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verb

To cause (a barrier) to no longer bar.

Examples :

"break a seal"

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verb

To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce.

Examples :

"The cavalry were not able to break the British squares."

action physics structure

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verb

(of a wave of water) To collapse into surf, after arriving in shallow water.

Examples :

"The wave breaks near the shore, sending foam onto the sand. "

ocean weather nature

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verb

To burst forth; to make its way; to come into view.

Examples :

"The sun broke through the clouds, flooding the classroom with light. "

action appearance nature

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verb

To interrupt or cease one's work or occupation temporarily.

Examples :

"The construction worker breaks for lunch at noon every day. "

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verb

To interrupt (a fall) by inserting something so that the falling object does not (immediately) hit something else beneath.

Examples :

"He survived the jump out the window because the bushes below broke his fall."

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verb

To disclose or make known an item of news, etc.

Examples :

"The newspaper breaks the news about the school's closure. "

communication media

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verb

(of a sound) To become audible suddenly.

Examples :

"The alarm clock broke into a loud ringing sound. "

sound phonetics

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verb

To change a steady state abruptly.

Examples :

"His coughing broke the silence."

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verb

To suddenly become.

Examples :

"The arrest was standard, when suddenly the suspect broke ugly."

action process event

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verb

Of a male voice, to become deeper at puberty.

Examples :

""During middle school, many boys' voices start to change, and sometimes his voice breaks unexpectedly." "

physiology body age

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verb

Of a voice, to alter in type due to emotion or strain: in men generally to go up, in women sometimes to go down; to crack.

Examples :

"His voice breaks when he gets emotional."

physiology sound linguistics phonetics emotion body

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verb

To surpass or do better than (a specific number), to do better than (a record), setting a new record.

Examples :

"The runner broke the school record in the 100-meter dash. "

achievement sport number

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:

Examples :

"The office schedule includes breaks: a fifteen-minute break in the morning and an hour for lunch. "

gap time action

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verb

(most often in the passive tense) To demote, to reduce the military rank of.

Examples :

"After being found guilty of misconduct, the sergeant was broken to the rank of private. "

military government war

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verb

To end (a connection), to disconnect.

Examples :

"The internet connection breaks sometimes during my online class. "

technology electronics machine action

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verb

(of an emulsion) To demulsify.

Examples :

"The vinaigrette dressing breaks if you don't shake it well enough to keep the oil and vinegar mixed. "

chemistry science

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verb

To counter-attack

Examples :

"After defending fiercely near their own goal, the soccer team breaks quickly, sending forwards downfield to try and score. "

sport military action

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verb

To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate.

Examples :

"The journalist breaks the story about the company's illegal activities. "

communication language

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verb

To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose health or strength.

Examples :

"After years of hard labor in the fields, his body slowly breaks. "

medicine physiology body

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verb

To fail in business; to become bankrupt.

Examples :

"The small bakery breaks after only six months because it cannot pay its bills. "

business finance economy

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verb

To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of.

Examples :

"to break flax"

action physics material

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verb

To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss.

Examples :

"The company breaks the contract with the supplier because of consistently late deliveries. "

government military job

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verb

To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change the gait.

Examples :

"to break into a run or gallop"

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verb

To fall out; to terminate friendship.

Examples :

"Their friendship breaks if they can no longer trust each other. "

family character human emotion society

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verb

To terminate the execution of a program before normal completion.

Examples :

"The user pressing Ctrl+C usually breaks the program. "

computing technology

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verb

To suspend the execution of a program during debugging so that the state of the program can be investigated.

Examples :

"The programmer breaks the code at line 25 to check the value of the variable "count" before it's used. "

computing technology technical