break the back of

Idioms

Overpower, overcome; also, get through the hardest part of. For example, This new offense has broken the back of the opposing team, or We're well over halfway there; we've broken the back of this journey. [Mid-1800s]

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.

No rate setter wants to later be forced to do what Volcker felt he had to in 1979 to break the back of inflation.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026

Volcker famously managed to break the back of high inflation with double-digit interest rates in the early 1980s.

From Barron's • Feb. 27, 2026

It suggests that one can bend over so far backwards to prove impartiality as to break the back of apolitical justice.

From Slate • Sep. 18, 2023

But Greenamyre remains determined to break the back of the disease.

From Science Magazine • May 4, 2023

But nearly three decades earlier, World War I had also been heralded as the event that would break the back of race prejudice.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023