# Break

Break or Breaks or The Break may refer to:

## Time off from duties

* Recess (break), time in which a group of people is temporarily dismissed from its duties
* Break (work), time off during a shift/recess
** Coffee break, a short mid-morning rest period in business
* Annual leave (holiday/vacation), paid time off work

### Time off from school

* Holiday break, a U.S. term for various school holidays
* Christmas break or Winter break, a break in the winter, typically around Christmas and New Years
* Spring break, a recess in early spring at universities and schools in various countries in the northern hemisphere
* Summer break, a typical long break in the summertime

## People

* Ted Breaks (1919–2000), English professional footballer
* Danny Breaks (active 1990s–), British drum and bass DJ, record producer and record label owner
* Jim Breaks (1940–2023), English professional wrestler

## Sport

* Break, the first shot meant to break the balls in cue sports, also a series of shots in snooker
* Breaking ball, a pitch that does not travel straight like a fastball as it approaches the batter
* Surf break, place where a wave collapses into surf
* Horse breaking, the process of training a horse to be ridden
* Break (tennis), to win a tennis game as the receiving player or team, thereby breaking serve

## Technology
### Computing

* Break condition, in asynchronous serial communication
* Break key, a special key on computer keyboards
* break statement, a keyword in computer programming used to execute an early exit from a loop
* Line break (computing), a special character signifying the end of a line of text
* To break (or "crack") an encryption cipher, in cryptanalysis

### Other technologies

* Brake (carriage), a type of horse-drawn carriage used in the 19th and early 20th centuries
* Break (locksmithing), a separation between pins of a lock
* Breakover angle, a maximum possible supplementary angle of terrain
* Paradelta Break, an Italian paraglider design

## Arts and media
### Books

* The Break (Giovanni novel), 1957, by José Giovanni
* The Break (Vermette novel), 2016, by Katherena Vermette
* The Breaks (novel), 1983, by Richard Price

### Film, television and theatre

To break character (or "corpse"), to lose composure during comedic scenes
* Break (2008 film), an American action film
* Break (2014 film), also known as Nature Law
* Break (2020 film), a British independent film
* The Break (play), a 1962 play by Philip Albright
* The Break (1963 film), a drama starring Tony Britton
* The Break (1995 film), an American tennis film
* The Break, alternative name for the 1997 film A Further Gesture
* The Break, a 2003 TV film featuring Kris Kristofferson
* The Break, a short film shown at the 2016 Dublin International Film Festival
* The Break (TV series), a 2016 Belgian crime drama, also known as La Trêve
* The Break with Michelle Wolf, a 2018 Netflix series
* The Breaks (1999 film), an American comedy
* The Breaks (2016 film), an American television hip-hop drama
** The Breaks (TV series), a 2017 American drama and a continuation of the 2016 film
* "Break", a 1995 episode of the British television series Bottom
* Break (Transformers), a fictional character

### Music

* Break (music), a percussion interlude or instrumental solo within a longer work of music
* Breakbeat, a broad style of electronic or dance-oriented music

#### Albums

* Break (Enchant album), 1998
* Break (Mamoru Miyano album), 2009
* Break (One-Eyed Doll album), 2010
* Break (EP), 2006, by The Cinematics

#### Songs

* "Break", 1972, by Aphrodite's Child
* "The Breaks" (song), 1980, by Kurtis Blow
* "Break" (1984), by Play Dead
* "Break" (1996), by Staind from the album Tormented
* "Break" (1998), by Fugazi from the album End Hits
* "Break" (2002), by Jurassic 5 from the album Power in Numbers
* "Break" (2006), by Republic of Loose from the album Aaagh!
* "Break" (2006), by The Cinematics
* "Break" (2008), by Alanis Morissette from the album Flavors of Entanglement
* "Break" (Three Days Grace song) (2009)
* "Break" (2013), by Hostyle Gospel from the album Desperation
* "Break" (2015), by Katherine McPhee from the album Hysteria
* "Break" (2015), by No Devotion from the album Permanence
* "Break" (Kero Kero Bonito song), 2016

### Other media

* Break.com, a humor website

## Other uses

* Big break (jargon), a circumstance which allows an actor or musician to "break into" the industry and achieve fame
* Bone fracture, a medical condition in which there is a break in the continuity of the bone
* Commercial break, in television and radio
* Prison escape, the act of an inmate leaving prison through unofficial or illegal ways
* Section break, in type setting
* Break, an air combat maneuver; see Basic fighter maneuvers
* Breaks, Virginia
* Psychotic break
* The Breaks, named for an American topography that appears to "break away" from the Missouri River, located in Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument