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BREAK OFF
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Prevent completion
Example:
break off the negotiations
Synonyms:
break; break off; discontinue; stop
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "break off" is one way to...):
end; terminate (bring to an end or halt)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "break off"):
fracture (become fractured)
bog; bog down (get stuck while doing something)
break up; cut off; disrupt; interrupt (make a break in)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Sense 2
Meaning:
Interrupt before its natural or planned end
Example:
We had to cut short our vacation
Synonyms:
break off; break short; cut short
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "break off" is one way to...):
break; interrupt (terminate)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "break off"):
hang up (interrupt a telephone conversation)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Sense 3
Meaning:
Break a small piece off from
Example:
chip a tooth
Synonyms:
break off; chip; cut off; knap
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "break off" is one way to...):
cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Sense 4
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 off" is one way to...):
divide; part; separate (come apart)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "break off"):
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 5
Meaning:
Break a piece from a whole
Example:
break a branch from a tree
Synonyms:
break; break off; snap off
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "break off" is one way to...):
detach (cause to become detached or separated; take off)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Context examples:
It's the name of a buccaneer of my acquaintance; and I call you by it for the sake of shortness, and what I have to say to you is this; one glass of rum won't kill you, but if you take one you'll take another and another, and I stake my wig if you don't break off short, you'll die—do you understand that? —die, and go to your own place, like the man in the Bible.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
