# break up

Pronunciation: US/UK say "brayk-UP" /ˌbɹeɪk ˈʌp/; AUS

## Phrasal verb

1. To end a relationship, usually a romantic or sexual one, with a partner or with each other.
   - Simple: To end a relationship with someone, usually a love relationship.
   - _After months of arguing, they agreed it was time to break up._
   - _He broke up with her by text message, which her friends thought was cruel._
2. To reduce something to pieces by breaking it or separating its parts.
   - Simple: To make something into pieces by breaking it or pulling it apart.
   - _Use a fork to break up any lumps in the sauce._
   - _The crew broke up the old concrete with jackhammers before laying the new path._
3. To come apart or disintegrate, breaking or separating into pieces.
   - Simple: To come apart or fall into pieces.
   - _Ice on the river begins to break up in early spring._
   - _The spacecraft broke up as it reentered the atmosphere._
4. Of a group or gathering, to dissolve, its members parting and going their separate ways.
   - Simple: To come to an end, with the people in a meeting or group going separate ways.
   - _The crowd began to break up once the speeches were over._
   - _The meeting broke up without any agreement on the budget._
5. To put a stop to a fight, or to pull apart the people who are fighting.
   - Simple: To stop a fight or pull apart people who are fighting.
   - _Security guards rushed in to break up a scuffle near the stage._
   - _Police broke up the brawl outside the bar and arrested three men._
6. Of a phone call or other conversation, to become hard to understand because of a bad connection; of a signal, to grow weaker or worse.
   - Simple: To become hard to hear or understand because of a bad phone connection or weak signal.
   - _The video signal tends to break up during heavy storms._
   - _Her voice was breaking up so badly that I caught only every third word._
7. To upset someone deeply, causing them great emotional distress or unhappiness.
   - Simple: To make someone very sad or upset.
   - _The farewell speech was enough to break up even the toughest soldiers, several of whom wept openly._
   - _It broke her up to see her childhood home torn down._
8. To be overcome with laughter, or to make someone laugh uncontrollably. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To laugh so hard you cannot stop, or to make someone laugh that way.
   - _Whenever the two hosts try to read the sponsor's ad with a straight face, they break up halfway through._
   - _Her impression of our boss totally broke us up._
9. To become disorganized, losing its earlier order or structure.
   - Simple: To stop being organized and become messy.
   - _As fatigue set in, the match began to break up, with gaps opening all over the field._
   - _The opposing defense broke up under sustained pressure, leaving their goalkeeper exposed._
10. Of a school, to close for vacation when a term ends.
   - Simple: To close for a vacation at the end of a school term.
   - _Most schools in the area break up a few days before Christmas._
   - _Once the college broke up for the summer, the campus was almost empty._
11. To cut up or take apart something, such as an old locomotive, for scrap.
   - Simple: To cut up or take apart something old, such as a train engine, for scrap.
   - _The railroad decided to break up the retired locomotives rather than pay to store them._
   - _Dozens of old freight cars were broken up for scrap at the yard._

## Noun · break-up

Pronunciation: say "BRAYK-up" /ˈbɹeɪk ˌʌp/

12. Alternative spelling of breakup. — Alternative spelling of breakup.
   - Simple: Alternative spelling of breakup. It means the same thing, written with a hyphen.
   - _The break-up of the empire left a dozen new countries on the map._
   - _She wrote half the album in the months after a painful break-up._

## Origin

Formed from the verb break up.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/break-up (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).