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.
The score of “Psycho” is generally regarded as one of the first to break away completely from Hollywood lushness for modern astringency, but “Notorious” was already moving in that direction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Over that period, they closely followed the condition of the glacier's floating ice tongue, recording the expansion of fractures and watching for signs that a major section might eventually break away.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026
That hasn’t stopped individual schools from trying to break away.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
They break away from the formation and leave.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026
Germany’s chief ally was Austria-Hungary, an unwieldy empire of several major religions and numerous languages and nationalities, including large numbers of Serbs who wanted to break away from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and declare their independence.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
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.
