break in on

broke or brake; bro·ken or broke; break·ing.

• : to smash, split, or divide into parts violently; reduce to pieces or fragments: He broke a vase.
• : to infringe, ignore, or act contrary to: She broke her promise.
• : to dissolve or annul: to break off friendly relations with another country.
• : to fracture a bone of: He broke his leg.
• : to lacerate; wound: to break the skin.
• : to destroy or disrupt the regularity, uniformity, continuity, or arrangement of; interrupt: The bleating of a foghorn broke the silence. The troops broke formation.
• : to put an end to; overcome; stop: His touchdown run broke the tie. She found it hard to break the cigarette habit.
• : to discover the system, key, method, etc., for decoding or deciphering, especially by the methods of cryptanalysis.
• : to remove a part from: She had to break the set to sell me the two red ones I wanted.
• : to exchange for or divide into smaller units or components: She broke a dollar bill into change. The prism broke the light into all the colors of the rainbow.
• : to make a way through; penetrate: The stone broke the surface of the water.
• : Law. to open or force one's way into.to contest successfully by judicial action.
• : to make one's way out of, especially by force: to break jail.
• : to better: He never broke 200 in bowling or 80 in golf.
• : to disclose or divulge personally in speech or writing: He broke the bad news to her in an early morning phone call.
• : to solve: The police needed only a week to break that case.
• : to rupture: She almost broke a blood vessel from laughing so hard.
• : to disable or destroy by or as if by shattering or crushing: to break a watch.
• : to cause to burst, as by puncturing: She broke the blister with a needle.
• : to ruin financially; make bankrupt: They threatened to break him if he didn't stop discounting their products.
• : to overcome or wear down the spirit, strength, or resistance of; to cause to yield, especially under pressure, torture, or the like: They broke him by the threat of blackmail.
• : to dismiss or reduce in rank.
• : to impair or weaken the power, effect, or intensity of: His arm broke the blow.
• : to train to obedience; tame: to break a horse.
• : to train away from a habit or practice.
• : Electricity. to render incomplete; stop the flow of.
• : Journalism. to release for publication or airing, as on television or radio, in print, or on the internet: The paper broke the scandal in its morning edition.to continue on another page, especially when the page is not the following one.
• : Billiards, Pool. to cause to scatter by striking with the cue ball.
• : Sports. to hurl in such a way as to cause it to change direction after leaving the hand: He broke a curve over the plate for a strike. to score frequently or win against.
• : Slang. to dominate with a sudden surge of interest or rapid, viral spread: This is all a publicity stunt they hope will break the internet.The celebrity feud-turned-romance broke Twitter with a marriage proposal.
• : Nautical. to unfurl suddenly by an easily released knot.
• : to prove the falsity or show the lack of logic of: The FBI broke his alibi by proving he knew how to shoot a pistol.
• : to begin or initiate, especially with much publicity: They were going to break the sales campaign with a parade in April.
• : to open the breech or action of, as by snapping open the hinge between the barrel and the butt.

broke or brake; bro·ken or broke; break·ing.

• : to shatter, burst, or become broken; separate into parts or fragments, especially suddenly and violently:The glass broke on the floor.
• : to become suddenly discontinuous or interrupted; stop abruptly: She pulled too hard and the string broke.
• : to become detached, separated, or disassociated: The knob broke off in his hand.
• : to become inoperative or to malfunction, as through wear or damage: The television set broke this afternoon.
• : to begin suddenly or violently or change abruptly into something else: War broke over Europe.
• : to begin uttering a sound or series of sounds or to be uttered suddenly: She broke into song. When they entered, a cheer broke from the audience.
• : to express or start to express an emotion or mood: His face broke into a smile.
• : to free oneself or escape suddenly, as from restraint or dependency: He broke away from the arresting officer. She finally broke away from her parents and got an apartment of her own.
• : to run or dash toward something suddenly: The pass receiver broke for the goal line.
• : to force a way: The hunters broke through the underbrush.
• : to burst or rupture: A blood vessel broke in his nose. The blister broke when he pricked it.
• : to interrupt or halt an activity: Don't break in on the conversation. Let's break for lunch.
• : to appear or arrive suddenly: A deer broke into the clearing. A rash broke out on her arm.
• : to dawn: The day broke hot and sultry.
• : to begin violently and suddenly: The storm broke.
• : to cease: The weather broke after a week, and we were able to sail for home.
• : to part the surface of water, as a jumping fish or surfacing submarine.
• : to give way or fail, as health, strength, or spirit; collapse: After years of hardship and worry, his health broke.
• : to yield or submit to pressure, torture, or the like: He broke under questioning.
• : to be overwhelmed with sorrow: Her heart broke when he told her that he no longer loved her.
• : to change harshly from one register or pitch to another: After his voice broke, he could no longer sing soprano parts.
• : to cease, waver, or change tone abruptly, especially from emotional strain: His voice broke when he mentioned her name.
• : to drop sharply and considerably.
• : to disperse or collapse by colliding with something: The waves broke on the shore.
• : to break dance.
• : to fail to keep to a trot or pace, as by starting to gallop.
• : Biology. to mutate.
• : Linguistics. to undergo breaking.
• : Billiards, Pool. to make a break; take the first turn in a game.
• : Sports. to change direction: The ball broke over the plate.
• : Horse Racing, Track. to leave the starting point: The horses broke fast from the gate.
• : Boxing. to step back or separate from a clinch: The fighters fell into a clinch and broke on the referee's order.
• : to take place; occur.
• : Journalism. to become publicly known, published, or aired: On Friday news of his death broke on social media.
• : Horticulture. to produce flowers or leaves.

• : an act or instance of breaking; disruption or separation of parts; fracture; rupture: Unfortunately for the guitarist, the break was in his right thumb.
• : an opening made by breaking; gap: The break in the wall had not been repaired.
• : a rush away from a place; an attempt to escape: a break for freedom.
• : a sudden dash or rush, as toward something: When the rain lessened, I made a break for home.
• : a suspension of or sudden rupture in friendly relations.
• : an interruption of continuity; departure from or rupture with: Abstract painters made a break with the traditions of the past.
• : an abrupt or marked change, as in sound or direction, or a brief pause: They noticed a curious break in his voice.
• : Informal. an opportunity or stroke of fortune, especially a lucky one.a chance to improve one's lot, especially one unlooked for or undeserved.
• : the breaks, Informal. the way things happen; fate: Sorry to hear about your bad luck, but I guess those are the breaks.
• : a brief rest, as from work: The actors took a ten-minute break from rehearsal.
• : Radio, Television. a brief, scheduled interruption of a program or broadcasting period for the announcement of advertising or station identification.
• : Prosody. a pause or caesura.
• : Jazz. a solo passage, usually lasting from 2 to 12 bars, during which the rest of the instruments are silent.
• : Music. the point in the scale where the quality of voice of one register changes to that of another, as from chest to head.
• : break dancing.
• : a sharp and considerable drop in the prices of stock issues.
• : Electricity. an opening or discontinuity in a circuit.
• : Printing. one or more blank lines between two paragraphs.breaks. suspension points.
• : the place, after a letter, where a word is or may be divided at the end of a line.
• : a collapse of health, strength, or spirit; breakdown.
• : Informal. a mistake, especially a social blunder: I'm just learning the game, so I may be expected to make some wild breaks.
• : Billiards, Pool. the opening play, in which the cue ball is shot to scatter the balls.a series of successful strokes; run.
• : Sports. a change in direction of a pitched or bowled ball, as in baseball or cricket.
• : Horse Racing, Track. the start of a race.
• : an act or instance of a horse's changing from a trot or pace into a gallop or other step.
• : Bowling. a failure to knock down all ten pins in a single frame.
• : Boxing. an act or instance of stepping back or separating from a clinch: a clean break.
• : any of several stages in the grinding of grain in which the bran is separated from the kernel.
• : Biology. mutation.
• : Journalism. the point at the bottom of a column where a printed story is carried over to another column or page.
• : Nautical. the place at which a superstructure, deckhouse, or the like, rises from the main deck of a vessel.
• : breaks, Physical Geography. an area dissected by small ravines and gullies.
• : Mining. a fault or offset, as in a vein or bed of ore.

• : break away, to leave or escape, especially suddenly or hurriedly.to sever connections or allegiance, as to tradition or a political group.to start prematurely: The horse broke away from the starting gate.
• : break back, Tennis. to win a game served by an opponent immediately after the opponent has done so against one's own serve.
• : break down, to become ineffective.to lose control of oneself: He broke down and wept at the sad news.to have a physical or mental collapse.to cease to function: The car broke down.to itemize:to break down a hotel bill into daily charges.Chemistry.to separate into its constituent molecules.Electricity. to fail, as when subjected to excessively high voltage, permitting a current to pass.to decompose. to analyze. to classify. to separate into constituent parts: to break down a beef carcass into basic cuts.
• : break in, to enter by force or craft: Someone broke in and made off with all the furniture.to train or instruct; initiate: The boss is breaking in a new assistant.to begin to wear or use in order to make comfortable: These shoes haven't been broken in.to interrupt: He broke in with a ridiculous objection.to run initially under reduced load and speed, until any stiffness of motion has departed and all parts are ready to operate under normal service conditions; run in; wear in.
• : break in on / upon to enter with force upon or accidentally interrupt; intrude upon: The visitor opened the wrong door and broke in on a private conference.
• : break into, to interpose; interrupt: He broke into the conversation at a crucial moment.to begin some activity.to be admitted into; enter, as a business or profession: It is difficult to break into the theater.to enter by force: They broke into the store and stole the safe.
• : break off, to sever by breaking.to stop suddenly; discontinue: to break off a conversation; to break off relations with one's neighbors.
• : break out, to begin abruptly; arise: An epidemic broke out.Pathology. to appear in eruptions. to manifest a skin eruption.to prepare for use: to break out the parachutes.to take out of for consumption: to break out one's best wine.Nautical.to dislodge from the bottom.to escape; flee: He spent three years in prison before he broke out.to separate into categories or list specific items: to break out gift ideas according to price range; The report breaks out quarterly profits and losses.
• : break up, to separate; scatter. to put an end to; discontinue. to divide or become divided into pieces.to dissolve. to disrupt; upset: Television commercials during a dramatic presentation break up the continuity of effect. to end: to break up a friendship; Their marriage broke up last year.to end a personal relationship: Bob and Mary broke up last month.to be or cause to be overcome with laughter: The comedian told several jokes that broke up the audience.
• : break with, to sever relations with; separate from: to break with one's family.to depart from; repudiate: to break with tradition.