break the back of
IdiomsExample 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
If we could break the back of segregation in our city, it would send a strong message to the rest of the nation.
From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
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.
