break away
Idioms-
Leave hurriedly, escape, get loose. For example, The boy tried to break away, but his mother held onto his coat , or On the last lap the horse broke away from the pack . [First half of 1500s]
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Sever connections with a group. For example, It was hard for me to break away from that organization, but I knew it was necessary .
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Stop doing something, as in She broke away from work long enough to go out for lunch .
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In typical fashion Van der Poel broke away from the pack shortly after the start on Sunday and never relinquished his lead.
From Barron's
A few years ago, he broke away from his uncle's party with several lawmakers and set up his own party which India's Election Commission later officially recognised as the NCP.
From BBC
In the Sahel more widely, Brennan said "we still collaborate" with the junta-led governments in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which have broken away from their west African neighbours and largely shunned the West.
From Barron's
Somaliland has governed itself since it broke away from Somalia in 1991 after the collapse of the central government in Mogadishu.
From BBC
Their models suggest that dense ice packed with nutrients can break away from surrounding ice and slowly sink through the shell until it reaches the ocean below.
From Science Daily
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.