DuySa

75 Idioms and Expressions That Include “Break”

Posted: 19 Oct 2013 09:08 PM PDT

Break and its various forms are found in a number of idioms and expressions. Here is an extensive but likely incomplete list of such usages.
1. All hell break(s) loose: chaos ensues
2. Break bad: defy authority
3. Break bread: to dine together, thus symbolizing peace and cooperation
4. Break a code: figure out a system for disguising communication
5. Break a law: do something illegal
6. Break a leg: an expression from the performing arts equivalent to “Good luck”
7. Break a/the record: exceed the previous best performance
8. Break a habit: stop doing something one does regularly
9. Break a story: be the first journalist to report on an incident or issue
10. Break away: separate from a group

11. Break (one’s) back: expend a great deal of effort for a result
12. Break (one’s) balls: overwhelm or overwork someone
13. Break camp: pack equipment at a campsite in preparation for departure
14. Break down: physically or emotionally collapse, or reduce something to its constituent parts
15. Break even: end up with the same amount of money one had before investing or gambling
16. Break faith: cease to support, or to abide by a promise
17. Break (one’s) fall: prevent a fall of one’s body that might have caused injury
18. Break for: pause for
19. Break formation: cease to operate in an established formation or pattern
20. Break free: release oneself from a literal or figurative restraint

21. Break (one’s) heart: suffer emotional distress
22. Break ground: begin construction
23. Break in (or into): enter by force
24. Break (one) in: introduce someone to something, or initiate someone into something
25. Break it up: an admonition to stop what one is doing, especially arguing or fighting
26. Break loose: separate from
27. Break into a gallop: suddenly increase one’s pace to a gallop while riding a horse
28. Break new ground: begin something new or do something different
29. Break (one) of (something): cause someone to stop doing something habitual
30. Break of dawn: beginning of the day

31. Break off: stop or cease
32. Break open: forcibly open
33. Break out: forcibly remove something from something else, literally or figuratively escape, burst forth suddenly, separate (as into groups), or develop pimples
34. Break out in a cold sweat: become suddenly nervous or frightened so that one literally or figurative perspires
35. Break out in a rash: suddenly develop a skin condition
36. Break out in tears: suddenly begin crying
37. Break ranks: cease to adhere to a certain opinion or cause
38. Break silence: cease to refrain from speaking about something
39. Break (one’s) stride: suddenly stop walking
40. Break the back of: reduce the power or end the domination of

41. Break the bank: use all of one’s funds
42. Break the fourth wall: address an audience directly rather than act as if there is no audience (said of an actor)
43. Break the ice: do something to alleviate awkwardness or nervousness
44. Break the mold: do something differently than it has been done before, or, in the case of a comment that “They broke the mold when . . . ,” a sentiment that someone or something has no equal
45. Break the news: share (often unpleasant) information
46. Break the silence: speak up about a topic previously avoided
47. Break the spell: end a period in which one experienced delight
48. Break through: overcome
49. Break (something) to (someone): provide (usually unpleasant) news or information
50. Break up: to separate into pieces

51. Break up with: to end a romantic relationship with
52. Break wind: create flatulence
53. Break with: end a relationship with
54. Break with tradition: deviate from custom or standard practice
55. Break (one’s) word: renege on a promise
56. Breaking point: the limit of physical or emotional endurance
57. Broke: out of money
58. Broken arrow: military jargon or code referring to an accident involving nuclear weaponry or to a request for air support for a threatened position
59. Broken dreams: unfulfilled aspirations
60. (Sound like a) broken record: sound repetitive, like a vinyl record that skips and therefore repeatedly plays a sound

61. Broken reed: unreliable person (on the analogy of the broken reed of a reed instrument)
62. Even break: even chance
63. (Make a) clean break: escape with complications, or start over again
64. Give me a break: said to express skepticism or exasperation
65. Go for broke: risk everything
66. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it: don’t try to improve something that works well
67. Lucky break: fortunate occurrence
68. Make a break for it: attempt to escape or get away
69. Make or break: said of a critical action that will result in significant success or failure
70. Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me: a child’s response to name-calling expressing that he or she is not injured by the name-calling

71. Take a break: pause while working
72. That’s the breaks/them’s the breaks: an expression of mild sympathy for bad luck
73. The straw that breaks the camel’s back: the final unfortunate or unpleasant incident that results in abandoning or rejecting a situation
74. Tough break: bad luck
75. You cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs: a saying referring to the fact that sacrifices must be made to obtain desirable results