break down
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: breaks down
form: breaking down
form: broke down
form: broken down
form: broke down
Senses: examples: text: I am afraid my computer will break down if I try to run it at too high a speed.
topics: computer
computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
qualifier: vehicle
glosses: To stop functioning.
raw_tags: of a machine
coordinate_terms: break apart
break up
fall apart
fall down
glosses: To unexpectedly collapse, physically or in structure.
coordinate_terms: break apart
break up
tear down
glosses: To intentionally demolish; to pull down.
examples: text: Talks broke down between Prime Minister John Doe and the opposition party.
text: Relations broke down between Greece and Turkey.
coordinate_terms: break apart
break up
glosses: To fail, especially socially or for political reasons.
examples: text: Is it worth taking it to a repair shop, or should I just break down and buy a new one?
glosses: To give in or give up: relent, concede, surrender.
examples: text: Near-synonym: come undone
text: She is back to work now, after she broke down the other day.
text: Sophia broke down here. Even at this moment she was subconsciously comparing her rendering of the part of the forlorn bride with Miss Marie Lohr's.
ref: 1921, Ben Travers, A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
text: As to Ernest... He is quite as nervously broken down as I am but it manifests itself in different ways. His inclination is towards megalomania and mine towards melancholy.
ref: 1936 Sept. 15, F. Scott Fitzgerald, letter to Beatrice Dance
glosses: To render or to become unstable due to stress, to collapse physically or mentally.
examples: text: His authority and influence over his coordinates broke down gradually.
text: Hodgson's approach may not illuminate proceedings in Poland and Ukraine but early evidence suggests they will be tough to break down.
ref: 2012 June 2, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Belgium”, in BBC Sport:
coordinate_terms: wear away
wear down
glosses: To render or to become weak and ineffective.
examples: text: Leaves and grass will break down into compost faster if you keep them moist.
glosses: To (cause to) decay, to decompose.
examples: text: Near-synonyms: break apart, break up, take apart, tear down, tear up
text: The goods station is a transhipment centre (centre de transbordement) at which loads made up at other centres are broken down and redespatched to destinations in the area.
ref: 1950 June, N. H. Bousfield, “Angers, a French Provincial Railway Centre”, in Railway Magazine, page 371:
text: Meetings began in June and shortly after the group of twelve women decided to break-down into two sub groups in order to examine the subject more efficiently.
ref: 1973 December 29, “Lesbian Questionnaire”, in Gay Community News, volume 1, number 28, page 1:
glosses: To separate into a number of parts.
examples: text: Near-synonym: analyze
text: If you don't understand, ask him to break down the numbers for you.
glosses: To divide into parts to give more details, to provide a more indepth analysis of.
examples: text: Near-synonym: catabolize
text: His stomach took a while to break down his food.
text: His food took a while to break down in his stomach.
glosses: To digest.
Derived terms: break-down
breakdown
broken down
broken-down valise
my car has broken down
Related terms: break it down