break the news

Idioms and Phrases

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.”

Example Sentences

Old Fosbery—otherwise Break-the-News—was a character round there.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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