| / English Dictionary |
BREAK AWAY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Break off (a piece from a whole)
Example:
Her tooth chipped
Synonyms:
break away; break off; chip; chip off; come off
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "break away" is one way to...):
divide; part; separate (come apart)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "break away"):
flake; flake off; peel; peel off (come off in flakes or thin small pieces)
exfoliate (come off in a very thin piece)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Sense 2
Meaning:
Move away or escape suddenly
Example:
Nobody can break out--this prison is high security
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "break away" is one way to...):
break loose; escape; get away (run away from confinement)
Verb group:
break (make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one's own by quitting or fleeing)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP
Sense 3
Meaning:
Flee; take to one's heels; cut and run
Example:
The burglars escaped before the police showed up
Synonyms:
break away; bunk; escape; fly the coop; head for the hills; hightail it; lam; run; run away; scarper; scat; take to the woods; turn tail
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "break away" is one way to...):
go away; go forth; leave (go away from a place)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "break away"):
flee; fly; take flight (run away quickly)
skedaddle (run away, as if in a panic)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP
Sense 4
Meaning:
Withdraw from an organization or communion
Example:
After the break up of the Soviet Union, many republics broke away
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "break away" is one way to...):
break; break up; part; separate; split; split up (discontinue an association or relation; go different ways)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP
Derivation:
breakaway (the act of breaking away or withdrawing from)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Interrupt a continued activity
Example:
She had broken with the traditional patterns
Synonyms:
break; break away
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "break away" is one way to...):
break; break up; part; separate; split; split up (discontinue an association or relation; go different ways)
Sentence frames:
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP
Context examples:
'This life,' said I at last, 'is hell: this is the air—those are the sounds of the bottomless pit! I have a right to deliver myself from it if I can. The sufferings of this mortal state will leave me with the heavy flesh that now cumbers my soul. Of the fanatic's burning eternity I have no fear: there is not a future state worse than this present one—let me break away, and go home to God!'
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
One way is that you will feel the need to break away from the company or work you’ve been doing to start something new.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
It was hard indeed for Alleyne to break away from these two new but hearty friends, and so strong was the combat between his conscience and his inclinations that he dared not look round, lest his resolution should slip away from him.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He tried more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It's all settled, and can be carried out at once, said Mr. Laurence, keeping hold of the young man, as if fearful that he would break away as his father had done before him.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
I wasn't meant for a life like this, and I know I shall break away and do something desperate if somebody doesn't come and help me, she said to herself, when her first efforts failed and she fell into the moody, miserable state of mind which often comes when strong wills have to yield to the inevitable.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
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