breaking

verb

Definition of breakingnext
present participle of break
1
as in disrupting
to cause to separate into pieces usually suddenly or forcibly hated telling her that I had broken her favorite glass vase

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in stopping
to bring (as an action or operation) to an immediate end the final vote broke the deadlock

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in reducing
to bring to a lower grade or rank the captain was broken to lieutenant commander for disobeying a direct order from his group commander

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in deciphering
to change (as a secret message) from code into ordinary language Alan Turing and the Bletchley Park mathematicians broke the Enigma code being used by the Nazis

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
5
as in pausing
to come to a temporary halt in one's activity she broke from her ruminations to find that it was already dinnertime

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
6
as in plowing
to cut into and turn over the sod of (a piece of land) using a bladed implement farmers once broke fields with horse-drawn plows

Synonyms & Similar Words
7
as in violating
to fail to keep had to confess that he had broken his promise not to share their conversation with anyone

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
8
as in solving
to find an answer for through reasoning Professor Bates broke the problem when she realized that it was possible to synthesize the necessary compounds

Synonyms & Similar Words
9
as in damaging
to reduce the soundness, effectiveness, or perfection of I broke a tooth on the hard candy

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
10
as in dying
to stop functioning after working for 30 years, the pump simply broke one day

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
11
as in retreating
to hasten away from something dangerous or frightening the herd of gazelles broke when they saw the lions racing toward them from the ridge above

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
12
as in wearing
to use up all the physical energy of the trek up the mountain just about broke me

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
13
as in spreading
to become known as soon as the scandal broke, the CEO fled the country

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
14
as in bankrupting
to cause to lose one's fortune and become unable to pay one's debts another bad investment could break him

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
15
as in originating
to come into existence the crisis had passed, and a new day was breaking

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
16
as in veering
to depart abruptly from a straight line or course the running back broke to his left before running out of bounds

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
17
as in lowering
to diminish the price or value of distressing economic news that will break many energy stocks

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
18
as in exceeding
to go beyond the limit of a menu with prices that is likely to break the budgets of all but the wealthiest of diners

Synonyms & Similar Words
19
as in surfacing
to penetrate the surface (as of water) from below dolphins were breaking all around the boat

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of breaking Angel Reese broke the WNBA single-game rebounding record with 26 while also breaking the league’s season record for rebounds as the Atlanta Dream beat the Sparks 78-71 on Monday night. — Los Angeles Times, 25 Aug. 2026 Everything is breaking the Sox way so far, and their playoff chances are greatly enhanced by the likelihood of avoiding an AL East team until the AL Championship Series. — Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 25 Aug. 2026 Angel Reese broke the WNBA single-game rebounding record with 26 while also breaking the league's season record for rebounds as the Atlanta Dream beat the Los Angeles Sparks 78-71 on Monday night. — ABC News, 25 Aug. 2026 This new documentary sits down with the dancer, the people who know her, and representatives of the global breaking community to understand exactly what happened. — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 25 Aug. 2026 Cruz, out since early June after breaking his left hand, turned on a 2-2 knuckle curve from Keider Montero (9-8) in the fifth inning and sent it 422 feet to right-center for his 15th homer of the season and his first since June 2. — CBS News, 19 Aug. 2026 Jonas Vingegaard won’t race again this season after breaking his collarbone in the Tour de France. — Chris Branch, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2026 Following the tragic and sudden death of Hayden Panettiere, the actress’ mother, Lesley Vogel, is breaking her silence. — James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 18 Aug. 2026 Under real threat, companies' ordinary response is to protect the current quarter, but the items that can be cut without anything visibly breaking are often exactly the ones that would have compounded. — Kerry Huang, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for breaking
  1. disrupting
  2. stopping
  3. reducing
  4. deciphering
  5. pausing
  6. plowing
  7. violating
  8. solving
Verb
  • Almost constant air raids in Kyiv have now reached their third day, choking the economy in the Ukrainian capital and severely disrupting civilian life more than 4½ years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 29 Aug. 2026
  • In 2023, workers accused the company of disrupting union activities, including implying workers could be dismissed for participating in a union protest and locking emergency exits on the day workers planned to picket outside.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of disrupting
Verb
  • Dual-piston hydraulic disc brakes with 180mm rotors handle stopping duties, an important part of controlling a large fat-tire e-bike in traffic or on a downhill section.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 26 Aug. 2026
  • The Chiefs focused their defense on stopping Barkley, and, while he was limited to 57 rushing yards on 25 carries, that opened up things for Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who completed 17 of 22 passes.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of stopping
Verb
  • According to a news release, the program will track attendance and behavioral data with the primary goals being to improve school attendance and student grades while potentially reducing psychiatric hospitalizations.
    — Mike Danahey, Chicago Tribune, 28 Aug. 2026
  • That could lower capital and operating costs while reducing safety risks during production.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of reducing
Verb
  • And navigating a website might involve deciphering images or knowing what links to click.
    — Jennifer D. Kobrin, The Conversation, 25 Aug. 2026
  • The prevention of future pandemics relies on information from previous outbreaks, which is one reason why deciphering the origins of the COVID-19 began is important.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of deciphering
Verb
  • Beijing — Already harrowing rescue efforts along the China-Nepal border are being complicated by the risk of new flooding or landslides, with authorities in China and Nepal pausing rescue efforts Friday due to those fears.
    — Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Some couples and families even choose a code word that means the conversation is pausing, Wilson says—not that the relationship is disappearing.
    — Angela Haupt, Time, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of pausing
Verb
  • There certainly may be a kernel of truth to Musk’s professed safety concerns, but plowing through bollards that are explitly designed to protect pedestrians from rogue drivers isn’t helping his case.
    — Frank Landymore, Futurism, 19 Aug. 2026
  • Janse uses no-till farming on his fields — not plowing the soil, planting crops to cover the ground year-round and adding organic matter — to help cope with the whims of the weather as climate change triggers more extremes.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of plowing
Verb
  • The Seoul Central District Court convicted Han, widow of church founder Sun Myung Moon, of violating the political funds act, bribery and embezzling church funds, the court said in a statement.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 31 Aug. 2026
  • The bill also increases the maximum penalties for violating local fireworks ordinances to $1,000 for a first offense, $2,000 for a second offense and $5,000 for each additional offense within five years of the first.
    — Daniel Lempres, Sacbee.com, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of violating
Verb
  • According to the researchers, careful process design and optimization as well as architecture simplification could help in solving most of these issues, something that industrial production focuses on much more than academic researchers.
    — Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Instead, the agents had, by collaborating amongst themselves, quickly found a way to manufacture answers to cyber challenges without actually solving the questions in the way ExploitGym’s creators had intended.
    — Emily Forlini, Fortune, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of solving

Phrases Containing breaking

Browse Nearby Words

break-in
breaking
breaking bread
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Breaking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/breaking. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Why does English have so many silent letters?

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
skateboard-dog-hat
Wordmaxxing Slang Quiz Give your vocabulary a glow up by getting sendy w...
See All