Scrabble?! BREAK

Definitions of BREAK in various dictionaries:

noun - some abrupt occurrence that interrupts an ongoing activity

noun - an unexpected piece of good luck

noun - (geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other

noun - a personal or social separation (as between opposing factions)

noun - a pause from doing something (as work)

noun - the act of breaking something

noun - a time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something

noun - breaking of hard tissue such as bone

noun - the occurrence of breaking

noun - an abrupt change in the tone or register of the voice (as at puberty or due to emotion)

noun - the opening shot that scatters the balls in billiards or pool

noun - (tennis) a score consisting of winning a game when your opponent was serving

noun - an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity

noun - a sudden dash

noun - any frame in which a bowler fails to make a strike or spare

noun - an escape from jail

verb - terminate

verb - become separated into pieces or fragments

verb - render inoperable or ineffective

verb - ruin completely

verb - destroy the integrity of

verb - act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises

verb - move away or escape suddenly

verb - scatter or part

verb - force out or release suddenly and often violently something pent up

verb - prevent completion

verb - enter someone's (virtual or real) property in an unauthorized manner, usually with the intent to steal or commit a violent act

verb - make submissive, obedient, or useful

verb - fail to agree with

verb - surpass in excellence

verb - make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret

verb - come into being

verb - stop operating or functioning

verb - interrupt a continued activity

verb - make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one's own by quitting or fleeing

verb - curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves

verb - lessen in force or effect

verb - be broken in

verb - come to an end

verb - vary or interrupt a uniformity or continuity

verb - cause to give up a habit

verb - give up

verb - come forth or begin from a state of latency

verb - happen or take place

verb - cause the failure or ruin of

verb - invalidate by judicial action

verb - discontinue an association or relation

verb - assign to a lower position

verb - reduce to bankruptcy

verb - change directions suddenly

verb - emerge from the surface of a body of water

verb - break down, literally or metaphorically

verb - do a break dance

verb - exchange for smaller units of money

verb - destroy the completeness of a set of related items

verb - make the opening shot that scatters the balls

verb - separate from a clinch, in boxing

verb - go to pieces

verb - break a piece from a whole

verb - become punctured or penetrated

verb - pierce or penetrate

verb - be released or become known

verb - cease an action temporarily

verb - interrupt the flow of current in

verb - undergo breaking

verb - find a flaw in

verb - find the solution or key to

verb - change suddenly from one tone quality or register to another

verb - happen

verb - become fractured

verb - crack

verb - fall sharply

verb - fracture a bone of

verb - diminish or discontinue abruptly

verb - weaken or destroy in spirit or body

To cause to separate into pieces suddenly or violently; smash.

To divide into pieces, as by bending or cutting: break crackers for a baby.

To snap off or detach: broke a twig from the tree.

To fracture a bone of: I broke my leg.

To fracture (a bone): I broke my femur.

To crack without separating into pieces.

To destroy the completeness of (a group of related items): broke the set of books by giving some away.

To exchange for smaller monetary units: break a dollar.

To vary or disrupt the uniformity or continuity of: a plain that was broken by low hills; caught the ball without breaking stride.

To open: break a circuit.

To force or make a way through; puncture or penetrate: The blade barely broke the skin.

To part or pierce the surface of: a dolphin breaking water.

To cause to burst.

To force one’s way out of; escape from: break jail.

To find an opening or flaw in: They couldn’t break my alibi.

To find the solution or key to; uncover the basic elements and arrangement of: break a code; break a spy ring.

To make known, as news: break a story.

To surpass or outdo: broke the league’s home-run record.

To overcome (a force or resistance): break the sound barrier.

To put an end to by force or strong opposition, especially to end (a strike) by means other than negotiation.

To lessen in force or effect: break a fall.

To render useless or inoperative: We accidentally broke the radio.

To weaken or destroy, as in spirit or health; overwhelm with adversity: “For a hero loves the world till it breaks him” (William Butler Yeats).

To cause the ruin or failure of (an enterprise, for example): Indiscretion broke both marriage and career.

To reduce in rank; demote.

To cause to be without money or go into bankruptcy.

To fail to fulfill; cancel: break an engagement; break one’s vacation plans.

To fail to conform to; violate: break the speed limit.

To invalidate (a will) by judicial action.

To give up (a habit).

To cause to give up a habit: They managed to break themselves of smoking.

To train to obey; tame: The horse was difficult to break.

To become separated into pieces or fragments.

To become cracked or split.

To become unusable or inoperative: The television broke.

To give way; collapse.

To burst: The blister has finally broken.

To become punctured or penetrated.

To intrude on: They broke in upon a heady conversation.

To filter in or penetrate: Sunlight broke into the room.

To become fractured.

To scatter or disperse; part: The clouds broke after the storm.

To make the opening shot that scatters the grouped balls in billiards or pool.

To separate from a clinch in boxing.

To move away or escape suddenly.

To come forth or begin from a state of latency; come into being or emerge: A storm was breaking over Miami.

To emerge above the surface of water.

To become known or noticed: The big story broke on Friday.

To change direction suddenly.

To curve near or over the plate: The pitch broke away from the batter.

To change suddenly from one tone quality or musical register to another: My voice broke to a whisper.

To undergo breaking.

To change to a gait different from the one set.

To interrupt or cease an activity: We’ll break for coffee at ten.

To discontinue an association, an agreement, or a relationship: The partners broke over a financial matter.

To diminish or discontinue abruptly: The fever is breaking.

To diminish in or lose physical or spiritual strength; weaken or succumb: Their good cheer broke after repeated setbacks.

To decrease sharply in value or quantity: Stock prices broke when the firm suddenly announced layoffs.

To come to an end: The cold spell broke yesterday.

To collapse or crash into surf or spray: waves that were breaking along the shore.

To take place or happen; proceed: Things have been breaking well for them.

To break dance.

The act or an occurrence of breaking.

The result of breaking, as a crack or separation.

A beginning or an opening: the break of day; a break in the clouds.

A sudden movement; a dash: The dog made a break toward the open field.

An escape: a prison break.

An interruption or a disruption in continuity or regularity: television programming without commercial breaks.

A pause or an interval, as from work: a coffee break.

A sudden or marked change.

A violation: a security break.

An often sudden piece of luck, especially good luck: finally got the big break in life.

Informal.

An allowance or indulgence; accommodating treatment: The boss gave me a break because I’d been sick.

A favorable price or reduction: a tax break for charitable contributions.

A severing of ties: made a break with the past; a break between the two families.

A faux pas.

A sudden decline in prices.

A caesura.

Printing.

The space between two paragraphs.

A series of three dots (...) used to indicate an omission in a text.

The place where a word is or should be divided at the end of a line.

Interruption of a flow of current.

A marked change in topography such as a fault or deep valley.

The point of discontinuity between two levels on the deck of a ship.

Music.

The point at which one register or a tonal quality changes to another.

The change itself.

A solo jazz cadenza played during the pause between the regular phrases or choruses of a melody.

A change in a horse’s gait to one different from that set by the rider.

The swerving of a ball from a straight path of flight, as in baseball or cricket.

The beginning of a race.

The separation after a clinch in boxing.

The opening shot that scatters the grouped balls in billiards or pool.

A run or unbroken series of successful shots, as in billiards or croquet.

Failure to score a strike or a spare in a given bowling frame.

A high horse-drawn carriage with four wheels.

Break dancing.

To cause to collapse; destroy: break down a partition; broke down our resolve.

To become or cause to become distressed or upset.

To have a physical or mental collapse.

To give up resistance; give way: broke down and bought a new car; prejudices that break down slowly.

To fail to function; cease to be useful, effective, or operable: The elevator broke down.

To render or become weak or ineffective: Opposition to the king’s rule gradually broke down his authority.

To divide into or consider in parts; analyze.

To be divisible; admit of analysis: The population breaks down into three main groups.

To decompose or cause to decompose chemically.

Electricity.

To train or adapt for a purpose.

To loosen or soften with use: break in new shoes.

To enter premises forcibly or illegally: a prowler who was trying to break in.

To interrupt a conversation or discussion.

To intrude.

To interrupt: “No one would have dared to break into his abstraction” (Alan Paton).

To begin suddenly: The horse broke into a wild gallop.

To enter (a field of activity): broke into broadcast journalism at an early age.

To separate or become separated, as by twisting or tearing.

To stop suddenly, as in speaking.

To discontinue (a relationship).

To cease to be friendly.

To become affected with a skin eruption, such as pimples.

To develop suddenly and forcefully: Fighting broke out in the prison cells.

To bring forth for consumption: Let’s break out the champagne.

To emerge or escape.

To be separable or classifiable into categories, as data.

To isolate (information) from a large body of data.

To separate into pieces; divide: break up a chocolate bar.

To interrupt the uniformity or continuity of: An impromptu visit broke up the long afternoon.

To scatter; disperse: The crowd broke up after the game.

To bring or come to an end: Guards broke up the fight.

To burst or cause to burst into laughter.

To fall into disorder, as a formation of soldiers.

To fail to conform to a prevailing or expected pattern or order: “Architectural experts have criticized the plaza in the past because it breaks rank with the distinctive faades of neighboring Fifth Avenue blocks, whose buildings are flush with the sidewalk” (Sharon Churcher).

To make a start.

To shatter is to break into many loose scattered pieces: The bottle will shatter if you drop it.

verb - to reduce to fragments