BREAK DOWN • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Break down

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/breɪk daʊn/ Listen

Break down

verb

Make ineffective. Synonym: crush.

Make a mathematical, chemical, or grammatical analysis of; break down into components or essential features. Synonyms: analyse, analyze, dissect, take apart. "Analyze a sentence" , "Analyze a chemical compound"

Lose control of one's emotions. Synonyms: lose it, snap. "When her baby died, she snapped"

Stop operating or functioning. Synonyms: break, conk out, die, fail, give out, give way, go, go bad. "The car died on the road" , "The bus we travelled in broke down on the way to town" , "The coffee maker broke" , "The engine failed on the way to town" , "Her eyesight went after the accident"

Fall apart. Synonyms: collapse, crumble, crumple, tumble. "Negotiations broke down"

Cause to fall or collapse.

Separate (substances) into constituent elements or parts. Synonyms: break up, decompose.

Collapse due to fatigue, an illness, or a sudden attack. Synonym: collapse.

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"Break down" Quotes from Famous Books

... them in order that the conflict might take place without transgressing the strictest rules of Kshattriya morality. Follow Him as He and Arjuna and his brother enter into the city of the king. They will not come by the open gate, that is the pathway of the friend. They break down a portion of the wall as a sign that they come as foes. They will not go undecorated; and challenged why they wore flowers and sandal, the answer is that they come for the celebration of a triumph, the fulfilling of a vow. Offered ...

— Avataras • Annie Besant

... 'You see, it may break down entirely,' remarked young Brainerd, 'and then we can load it on the wagon and ...

— The Huge Hunter - Or, the Steam Man of the Prairies • Edward S. Ellis

... rest of the evening we were both taciturn and distant towards each other. In vain Mrs. Ashleigh kindly sought to break down our mutual reserve. I felt that I had the right to be resentful, and I clung to that right the more because Lilian made no attempt at reconciliation. This, too, was wholly unlike herself, for her temper was ordinarily sweet,—sweet ...

— A Strange Story, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... age. Thou hast taken all of them. Wife, and son, and mill, and grandson, and my brother who robbed me—the whole of it may have been for my good, but I have got no good out of it. Show me the way for a little time, O Lord, to make the best of it; and teach me to bear it like a man, and not break down at this time of life. Thou knowest what is right. ...

— Erema - My Father's Sin • R. D. Blackmore

... the last three or four lectures must be incorrect, because I have been attempting to prove that they do exist, and I take it that there is abundant evidence that they do exist; so far, therefore, the hypothesis does not break down. ...

— Lectures and Essays • T.H. Huxley

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