break up

Formsbreaks up, breaking up, broke up, broken up

1. 1
   end a relationshipphrasal verbidiomaticintransitive

   To end a relationship with someone, usually a love relationship.

   Tom and Lisa decided to break up after two years together.

   My cousin broke up with his girlfriend just before the holidays.

   Similarsplit, separate

   Note
2. 2
   into piecesphrasal verbtransitive

   To make something into pieces by breaking it or pulling it apart.

   Break up the bread and give it to the ducks.

   He broke up the chocolate bar so everyone could have some.

   Similarsmash, crush, shatter, fragment

   Note
3. 3
   into piecesphrasal verbintransitive

   To come apart or fall into pieces.

   The old boat started to break up in the storm.

   The plate broke up into tiny bits when it hit the floor.

   Similardisintegrate, shatter, fragment, crumble

4. 4
   group endsphrasal verbidiomaticintransitive

   To come to an end, with the people in a meeting or group going separate ways.

   The party didn't break up until after midnight.

   The band broke up after their third album.

   Similardisperse, scatter, disband, adjourn

   Oppositegather, assemble, convene

   Note
5. 5
   stop a fightphrasal verbidiomatictransitive

   To stop a fight or pull apart people who are fighting.

   A teacher ran over to break up the fight in the playground.

   Two neighbors broke up the fight before anyone got hurt.

   Similarstop, end, halt

6. 6
   bad signalphrasal verbintransitive

   To become hard to hear or understand because of a bad phone connection or weak signal.

   The call always starts to break up when we drive through the tunnel.

   Sorry, you're breaking up, so I'll call you back.

   Note
7. 7
   deeply upsetphrasal verbtransitive

   To make someone very sad or upset.

   That old love song can still break up my grandmother, because it reminds her of Grandpa.

   Losing his dog really broke him up.

   Similarupset, devastate, distress

   Note
8. 8
   laugh hardphrasal verbslangidiomatictransitive or intransitive

   To laugh so hard you cannot stop, or to make someone laugh that way.

   Every time Sam does his teacher voice, we all break up.

   Her funny face broke me up in the middle of class.

   Note
9. 9
   lose orderphrasal verbfigurativelyidiomaticintransitive

   To stop being organized and become messy.

   In the last ten minutes, the game started to break up and both teams made silly mistakes.

   The tired players stopped passing, and their defense broke up.

   Similardisintegrate, collapse, crumble

10. 10
    school holidaysphrasal verbidiomaticintransitive

    To close for a vacation at the end of a school term.

    Our school will break up for the summer next Friday.

    The kids were excited because the school broke up early for the holidays.

11. 11
    for scrapphrasal verbtransitive

    To cut up or take apart something old, such as a train engine, for scrap.

    The company plans to break up the old train engines and sell the metal.

    The rusty old ship was broken up for scrap last year.

    Similardismantle, scrap

    Note
12. 12
    noun · break-up

    Alternative spelling of breakup. It means the same thing, written with a hyphen.

    After the break-up, she moved back in with her parents.

    Everyone in town waits for the break-up of the ice on the lake.

    Note

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