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View synonyms for breaking

breaking

1

[ brey-king ]

adjective

  1. (of a news story) currently developing or having happened recently and being released for publication or airing, as on television or radio, in print, or on the internet:

    Our network aims to be your trusted source for breaking news, local weather, and sports.

  2. coming into being suddenly:

    When I awoke, it was breaking day over the eastern horizon.

  3. changing or collapsing suddenly:

    This is a photograph of a breaking wave in the subantarctic waters of the Southern Ocean.



breaking

2

[ brey-king ]

noun

  1. Phonology. the change of a pure vowel to a diphthong, especially in certain environments, as, in Old English, the change of a vowel to a diphthong under the influence of a following consonant or combination of consonants, as the change of -a- to -ea- and of -e- to -eo- before preconsonantal r or l and before h, as in earm “arm” developed from arm, and eorthe “earth” from erthe.

breaking

3

[ brey-king ]

breaking

/ ˈbreɪkɪŋ /

noun

  1. linguistics (in Old English, Old Norse, etc) the change of a vowel into a diphthong
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Word History and Origins

Origin of breaking1

First recorded in 1930–35; break ( def ) (in the sense “to release a news story for publication”) + -ing 2( def )

Origin of breaking2

First recorded in 1870–75; translation of German Brechung; break, -ing 1

Origin of breaking3

First recorded in 1980–85; by ellipsis
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Word History and Origins

Origin of breaking1

C19: translation of German Brechung
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Example Sentences

“We saw his background and he was a Bronx guy and we started breaking the case,” Boyce says.

Breaking the will of ISIS, the military argues, is not a statistic.

Against this backdrop, Paul breaking bread with Sharpton may be too much for Republican primary voters to watch or stomach.

He said,  “I am breaking my heart over this story, and cannot bear to finish it.”

It was so potent, given all the ways the world is breaking many people, his people, down.

Strive to speak or sing fluently without breaking the quality of tone used.

Say that my anger has no bounds—that my heart is breaking—will break and kill me, if he persists in his ingratitude and cruelty.

The gigantic pylon, its shoulders breaking the sky four-square far overhead, seemed the prodigious portal of another world.

He swam with her upon the summit of the breaking Wave, lifted upon its crest, swept onward irresistibly.

The red flashes were breaking out like a bunch of firecrackers, and with pretty much the same sound.

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break-inbreaking and entering