BREAK AWAY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does break away mean? 

• BREAK AWAY (verb)
  The verb BREAK AWAY has 5 senses:

1. move away or escape suddenly

2. break off (a piece from a whole)

3. interrupt a continued activity

4. withdraw from an organization or communion

5. flee; take to one's heels; cut and run

  Familiarity information: BREAK AWAY used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BREAK AWAY (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move away or escape suddenly

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

break; break away; break out

Context example:

Nobody can break out--this prison is high security

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 2

Meaning:

Break off (a piece from a whole)

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

break away; break off; chip; chip off; come off

Context example:

Her tooth chipped

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 3

Meaning:

Interrupt a continued activity

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

break; break away

Context example:

She had broken with the traditional patterns

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

Sense 4

Meaning:

Withdraw from an organization or communion

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

break away; secede; splinter

Context example:

After the break up of the Soviet Union, many republics broke away

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:

Flee; take to one's heels; cut and run

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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

Context example:

The burglars escaped before the police showed up

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

 Context examples 

Again and again he strove to break away, but I as often headed him off.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Malignant tumor cells can invade nearby tissues or break away and spread to other parts of the body.

(Cancer in Children, NIH: National Cancer Institute)

You may be tired of a situation, rebel against it, and break away.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

While the crack was growing, scientists had a hard time predicting when the nascent iceberg would break away.

(Massive Iceberg Breaks Off from Antarctica, NASA)

‘You are mad, Elise!’ he shouted, struggling to break away from her. ‘You will be the ruin of us.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The fog seemed to break away as though split by a wedge, and the bow of a steamboat emerged, trailing fog-wreaths on either side like seaweed on the snout of Leviathan.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

But he's set, and I've got to do just as he did, unless I break away and please myself, as my father did.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

They can also break away and spread to other parts of the body.

(Cancer, NIH: National Cancer Institute)

The man with the birth-mark, too, struggled to break away, and Alleyne heard his teeth chatter and felt his limbs grow limp to his hand.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Even the madness of fright was not to them, so that they could break away.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)