break the news

Idioms  

1. Make something known, as in We suspected that she was pregnant but waited for her to break the news to her in-laws. This term, in slightly different form (break a matter or break a business), dates from the early 1500s. Another variant is the 20th-century journalistic phrase, break a story, meaning “to reveal a news item or make it available for publication.”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

break the news

So when I called him to break the news, he started crying.

From Salon ● Mar. 24, 2026

It fell to Barshay to break the news.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026

Balde said he was "devastated" and had to break the news to his wife.

From Barron's ● Dec. 17, 2025

In April 1968, when Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, it fell to Robert F. Kennedy to break the news to a largely Black crowd in Indianapolis.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2025

When I got back to the district a small group of youth members stopped their joking to welcome me, but I couldn't break the news.

From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison

Related Words

• advise
• announce
• confess
• declare
• disclose
• explain
• express
• inform
• instruct
• mention
• notify
• order
• report
• reveal
• say
• speak
• state
• summon