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Definition of Break up
1. Verb. To cause to separate and go in different directions. "She waved her hand and scattered the crowds"
Specialized synonyms: Disband
Generic synonyms: Divide, Separate
Derivative terms: Dispersion, Dissipation, Scatter, Scatter, Scattering, Scattering
2. Verb. Discontinue an association or relation; go different ways. "My friend and I split up"
Specialized synonyms: Give The Axe, Give The Bounce, Give The Gate, Break Apart, Disunify, Disassociate, Disjoint, Dissociate, Disunite, Divorce, Break With, Divorce, Split Up, Break Away, Secede, Splinter, Break, Break Away
Derivative terms: Break, Breakup, Breakup, Separation, Separatist, Split
3. Verb. Come apart. "The group broke up"
Generic synonyms: Part, Separate, Split
Derivative terms: Breakup
4. Verb. Break violently or noisily; smash. "The glass tubes break up"
5. Verb. Make a break in. ; "We interrupt the program for the following messages"
Specialized synonyms: Cut, Cut Off, Punctuate, Break, Put Aside, Put Away, Break, Intermit, Pause, Barge In, Break In, Butt In, Chime In, Chisel In, Cut In, Put In, Burst In On, Burst Upon, Heckle, Come In, Inject, Interject, Interpose, Put In, Throw In, Block, Jam, Stop, Stop Over, Take Off, Take Time Off
Generic synonyms: Break, Break Off, Discontinue, Stop
Derivative terms: Disruption, Interrupter, Interruption
6. Verb. Cause to go into a solution. "The recipe says that we should dissolve a cup of sugar in two cups of water"
Generic synonyms: Change Integrity
Specialized synonyms: Melt, Melt Down, Run, Cut
Causes: Dissolve
Derivative terms: Dissolution, Dissolvent, Dissolver, Dissolving, Resolvent
7. Verb. Suffer a nervous breakdown.
Generic synonyms: Get, Have, Suffer, Sustain
Derivative terms: Collapse, Crack-up
8. Verb. Take apart into its constituent pieces.
Generic synonyms: Destroy, Destruct
Antonyms: Assemble
Derivative terms: Dismantlement, Dismantling
9. Verb. Destroy the completeness of a set of related items. "The book dealer would not break the set"
Generic synonyms: Alter, Change, Modify
Related verbs: Break
Derivative terms: Breakable
10. Verb. Set or keep apart. "Sever a relationship"
Generic synonyms: Disunite, Divide, Part, Separate
Related verbs: Discerp, Lop, Sever
Derivative terms: Severance
11. Verb. Attack with or as if with a pickaxe of ice or rocky ground, for example. "Pick open the ice"
12. Verb. Release ice. "The icebergs and glaciers calve"
13. Verb. Close at the end of a session. "The court adjourned"
Generic synonyms: Cease, End, Finish, Stop, Terminate
Derivative terms: Adjournment, Recess
14. Verb. Bring the association of to an end or cause to break up. "The judge dissolved the tobacco company"
Related verbs: Dismiss, Dissolve
Generic synonyms: End, Terminate
Derivative terms: Dissolution, Dissolution, Dissolution
15. Verb. Come to an end. "The tobacco monopoly broke up"
16. Verb. Break or cause to break into pieces. "The plate fragmented"
Specialized synonyms: Atomise, Atomize, Bray, Comminute, Crunch, Grind, Mash, Pound, Sunder, Sliver, Splinter, Rag, Crumb, Brecciate, Crush, Grate, Grind
Generic synonyms: Break, Come Apart, Fall Apart, Separate, Split Up
Derivative terms: Fragment, Fragment, Fragment, Fragmentation, Fragmentation, Fragmentation, Fragmentation, Fragment
17. Verb. Cause to separate. "Disperse particles"
Generic synonyms: Change Integrity
Specialized synonyms: Backscatter
18. Verb. Separate (substances) into constituent elements or parts.
Category relationships: Chemical Science, Chemistry
Specialized synonyms: Digest, Dissociate, Crack
Generic synonyms: Separate
Derivative terms: Decomposition
19. Verb. Laugh unrestrainedly.
Definition of Break up
1. Verb. (intransitive) To break or separate into pieces; to disintegrate or come apart. ¹
2. Verb. (intransitive idiomatic) To end a relationship. ¹
3. Verb. (intransitive idiomatic) To dissolve; to part. ¹
4. Verb. (intransitive idiomatic) Of a school, to close for the holidays at the end of term. ¹
5. Verb. (intransitive idiomatic) Of a telephone conversation, to cease to be understandable because of a bad connection. ¹
6. Verb. (transitive) To break or separate into pieces. ¹
7. Verb. (transitive idiomatic) To stop a fight; to separate people who are fighting. ¹
8. Verb. (intransitive idiomatic figuratively) ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Lexicographical Neighbors of Break Up
Literary usage of Break up
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Nature by Norman Lockyer, Nature Publishing Group (1875)
"The floe occasionally came to grief, and its dimensions became gradually diminished ;
in January it suffered such a terrible break-up that a new house had ..."