Meaning of break up in English

Table of contents
  1. Pronunciation
  2. Verb
    1. Definitions

  1. Pronunciation

    US accent

    UK accent

  1. Verb

    break up

    Definitions

    1. to cause to separate and go in different directions

    Examples

    • « She waved her hand and scattered the crowds »

    Derived terms

  2. 2. discontinue an association or relation

    Examples

    • « go different ways »
    • « The business partners broke over a tax question »
    • « The couple separated after 25 years of marriage »
    • « My friend and I split up »

    Derived terms

  3. 3. come apart

    Examples

    • « the group broke up »

    Derived terms

  4. 4. break violently or noisily

    Examples

    • « smash; »
  5. 5. make a break in

    Examples

    • « We interrupt the program for the following messages »

    Derived terms

  6. 6. cause to go into a solution

    Examples

    • « The recipe says that we should dissolve a cup of sugar in two cups of water »

    Derived terms

  7. 7. suffer a nervous breakdown

    Derived terms

  8. 8. take apart into its constituent pieces

    Antonyms

    Derived terms

  9. 9. destroy the completeness of a set of related items

    Examples

    • « The book dealer would not break the set »
  10. 10. set or keep apart

    Examples

    • « sever a relationship »

    Derived terms

  11. 11. attack with or as if with a pickaxe of ice or rocky ground, for example

    Examples

    • « Pick open the ice »

    Derived terms

  12. 12. release ice

    Examples

    • « The icebergs and glaciers calve »
  13. 13. close at the end of a session

    Examples

    • « The court adjourned »

    Derived terms

  14. 14. bring the association of to an end or cause to break up

    Examples

    • « The decree officially dissolved the marriage »
    • « the judge dissolved the tobacco company »

    Derived terms

  15. 15. come to an end

    Examples

    • « Their marriage dissolved »
    • « The tobacco monopoly broke up »
  16. 16. break or cause to break into pieces

    Examples

    • « The plate fragmented »

    Derived terms

  17. 17. cause to separate

    Examples

    • « break up kidney stones »
    • « disperse particles »
  18. 18. separate (substances) into constituent elements or parts

    Derived terms

  19. 19. laugh unrestrainedly

Famous quotes

  • « Americans, who make more of marrying for love than any other people, also break up more of their marriages, but the figure reflects not so much the failure of love as the determination of people not to live without it. »
    Morton Hunt
  • « I talked about the barriers created by monopolies. I said that it was the role of government to break up these monopolies and that we couldn't do it alone. »
    Joichi Ito
  • « I mean, I was born the day war broke out, but I don't remember all the bombs though they did actually break up Liverpool, you know. I remember when I was a little older, there was big gaps in all the streets where houses used to be. We used to play over them. »
    Ringo Starr
  • « I know one husband and wife who, whatever the official reasons given to the court for the break up of their marriage, were really divorced because the husband believed that nobody ought to read while he was talking and the wife that nobody ought to talk while she was reading. »
    Vera Brittain
  • « Few things tend more to alienate friendship than a want of punctuality in our engagements. I have known the breach of a promise to dine or sup to break up more than one intimacy. »
    William Hazlitt

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