Breakdown vs break down
Breakdown is one word and a noun that names a failure or a detailed list of parts. Break down is two words and a verb that means to stop working, fail, or split into parts.
breakdown noun
A failure that makes something stop working, or a detailed list of the separate parts that make something up.
- We had a breakdown on the highway and waited an hour for a tow truck.
- The report gives a full breakdown of costs by department.
break down verb
To stop working, to split something into smaller parts so you can explain it, or to slowly rot into smaller parts.
- Our bus broke down halfway up the mountain road.
- Can you break down the expenses by department before the meeting?
Watch out
- They do not sound quite the same. In breakdown the stress falls on break. In break down the stress falls on down.
- Both can be about a person under stress. A person who breaks down usually loses control and cries, or collapses under pressure. A breakdown, often a nervous breakdown, is a serious collapse of health.She broke down at the funeral, and her friends worried she would have a breakdown.
- Only the verb changes for tense: breaks down, breaking down, broke down, broken down. The noun just adds s for more than one.The printer broke down twice last week, and we have had three breakdowns this month.
Test yourself
Our old car might blank if we drive it that far.
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break down. After might you need an action, so use the two-word verb.
The manager asked for a blank of the costs.
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breakdown. After a you need a noun, the detailed list itself.
Most plastics take years to blank in a landfill.
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break down. After to you need a verb, so use the two words: the plastic slowly falls apart into smaller pieces.
After months of stress at work, he suffered a blank.
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breakdown. He suffered a thing, so use the one-word noun.
Full entries: breakdownbreak down