breakdown
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: biology
broadcasting
chemistry
dance
dancing
entertainment
film
hobbies
lifestyle
media
medicine
music
natural-sciences
pathology
physical-sciences
physics
sciences
sports
television
veterinary
zoology
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg-der.
Proto-Germanic *brekaną
Proto-West Germanic *brekan
Old English brecan
Middle English breken
English break
Old English of-
Proto-Germanic *dūnaz?
Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂-
Proto-Indo-European *-nós
Proto-Indo-European *duh₂-nós?
Proto-Celtic *dūnomder.?
Proto-West Germanic *dūnā
Old English dūne
Old English ofdūne
Old English adūne
Old English dūne
Middle English doun
English down
English break downdeverb.
English breakdown
Deverbal from break down.
Inflected forms:
form: breakdowns
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: break-down
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: A failure, particularly one which is mechanical in nature.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: Whenever he was behind the wheel, he would panic at the first sign of a breakdown.
He declared that these drastic steps would undoubtedly inconvenience a good many people, but the alternative was bankruptcy of the Ulster Transport Authority and the breakdown of public transport services.
gloss: A failure, particularly one which is mechanical in nature.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
gloss: Something, such as a vehicle, that has experienced a mechanical failure.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: We saw a breakdown by the side of the road.
gloss: Separation of a thing into components; decomposition, fragmentation; (countable) an instance of this.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: Looking at the breakdown of the budget, I see a few items we could cut.
The railways' monopoly had meant that accountancy and record-keeping had been limited to global accounts. In other words, there were only really headline numbers, with little useful breakdown by routes or traffic type.
gloss: Separation of a thing into components; decomposition, fragmentation; (countable) an instance of this.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
gloss: Separation of a thing into components; decomposition, fragmentation; (countable) an instance of this.
pos: noun
tags: countable
gloss: A failure in a relationship; a failure or loss of organization in a system.
pos: noun
tags: countable
figuratively
examples: I am quite competent to answer all / Demands, in any such capacity— / But of the break-down of my general aims: […]
What else than Feudalism could have followed upon the breakdown of that great centralized governmental machine known as the Roman Empire?
gloss: (Sudden) worsening of physical health or (more commonly) mental stability, resulting in an inability to carry on normal activities; (countable) an instance of this.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
uncountable
examples: After so much stress, he suffered a breakdown and simply gave up.
[H]e was led away to a private sanitarium for mental disease, while in the newspapers appeared pathetic accounts of his mental breakdown and of the saintliness of his character.
gloss: Injury to a horse's leg causing lameness; (countable) an instance of this.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
uncountable
gloss: The short period of open play immediately after a tackle and before and during the ensuing ruck.
pos: noun
tags: countable
figuratively
uncountable
examples: England beat Georgia in their Pool B World Cup match in Dunedin but the stuttering nature of the performance will be of concern to manager Martin Johnson. Georgia, ranked 16th in the world, dominated the breakdown before half-time and forced England into a host of infringements, but fly-half Merab Kvirikashvili missed three penalties.
When players appeal to the referee, as they so often do, for penalties at breakdowns when the supposed offender is being deliberately pinned down by their own teammates, they should understand they do their sport a small but significant disservice.
gloss: An act of splitting logs of wood using a large saw in a sawmill; also, the saw used; or (rare) the building in which the process is carried out.
pos: noun
tags: attributive
countable
figuratively
gloss: A part of a piece of music or a song which differs from the other parts in that it features improvisation or is stripped down (for example, played by fewer instruments or a solo performer).
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: And now it's time for a breakdown.
Izzy [Stradlin] lays down some big chords while Slash plays the song's banjo breakdown of a theme.
gloss: Synonym of percussion break (“a percussion-focused segment of a song, chosen by a hip-hop DJ to manipulate through cutting, mixing, and other techniques in order to create rhythmic music”).
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A section of a song, typical in hardcore music and related styles (such as metalcore, grindcore, and deathcore), characterized by a lower tempo and greater heaviness and intensity of sound.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The fired-up foursome [Trial] takes itself very seriously, singing politically charged lyrics, which, in the tradition of Strife and Damnation AD, are strategically placed in the middle of slamming, moshable breakdowns.
gloss: A noisy, rapid, shuffling dance engaged in competitively by a number of individuals or pairs in succession, common among African-Americans from the Southern United States; also, a lively event, chiefly in a rural setting, at which such dancing is done; a hoedown, a shindig.
pos: noun
tags: Southern-US
countable
dated
uncountable
examples: Come, hold on, boys, do n't clear out when the quadrilles are over, for we are going to have a break down to wind up with.
Towards nine the three miners said that as they had brought their instruments they might as well tune up, for the boys and girls would soon be arriving now, and hungry for a good old fashioned break[-]down. A fiddle, a banjo, and a clarinet—these were the instruments. The trio took their places side by side, and began to play some rattling dance-music, and beat time with their big boots.
gloss: A piece of music played for such a dance, especially a rapid bluegrass tune featuring a five-string banjo.
pos: noun
tags: Southern-US
countable
uncountable
examples: Without a change of countenance, as if he were deaf to her entreaties and threats, he tuned up the banjo, and played a breakdown.
The banjo built up to breakdown speed and then took a sidestep into another register, an oddly complex net of notes which stretched out for a time and finally stopped on a full rest.
Her mother had not only gotten knocked up and lost her man when Sunset was thirteen, she soon took up with a traveling shoe salesman who played the banjo, wandered away with him and his shoes, probably to the sound of a banjo breakdown, leaving a note that read: "Sorry, Sunset, I got to go. Mama loves you. I left you a good pair of shoes in there on the kitchen table. They shine up easy."
The grown-ups were lolling around on the porch and in the yard, finger snapping and foot tapping while Samuel played "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" on his five-string banjo.
gloss: An act of a structure or other thing breaking and collapsing.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
Related words: break down
break it down
meltdown
Derived words: breakdown crane
breakdown lane
breakdown lorry
breakdown truck
breakdown point
breakdown voltage
climate breakdown
electrical breakdown
mental breakdown
nervous breakdown
organizational breakdown structure
product breakdown structure
Translations:
lang: Azerbaijani
word: sınma
lang: Bulgarian
word: ава́рия
roman: avárija
lang: Bulgarian
word: повреда
roman: povreda
lang: Bulgarian
word: счупване
roman: sčupvane
lang: Catalan
word: avaria
lang: Catalan
word: pana
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 故障
roman: gùzhàng
lang: Dutch
word: defect
lang: Dutch
word: mankement
lang: Dutch
word: panne
lang: Dutch
word: stilstand
lang: Esperanto
word: paneo
lang: Finnish
word: rikko
lang: Finnish
word: rikkoontuminen
lang: Finnish
word: rikkoutuminen
lang: Finnish
word: vika
lang: Finnish
word: vikaantuminen
lang: French
word: panne
lang: German
word: Betriebsstörung
lang: German
word: Panne
lang: Greek
word: κατάρρευση
roman: katárrefsi
lang: Greek
word: βλάβη
roman: vlávi
lang: Hebrew
word: התקלקלות
lang: Hungarian
word: meghibásodás
lang: Hungarian
word: üzemzavar
lang: Irish
word: cliseadh
lang: Italian
word: avaria
lang: Italian
word: collasso
lang: Italian
word: guasto
lang: Japanese
word: 故障
roman: koshō
lang: Korean
word: 고장
roman: gojang
lang: Marathi
word: विभंग
roman: vibhaṅga
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: havari
lang: Norwegian Nynorsk
word: havari
lang: Polish
word: awaria
lang: Portuguese
word: avaria
lang: Russian
word: ава́рия
roman: avárija
lang: Russian
word: поло́мка
roman: polómka
lang: Russian
word: поврежде́ние
roman: povreždénije
lang: Slovak
word: havária
lang: Slovak
word: porucha
lang: Spanish
word: avería
lang: Spanish
word: descompostura
lang: Spanish
word: pana
lang: Spanish
word: panne
lang: Swedish
word: haveri
lang: Tagalog
word: aberya