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Synonyms

break the news

Idioms  

  1. 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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

ABC News learned of Coca-Cola’s retreat and interrupted a daytime soap opera, “General Hospital,” to break the news.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

He was just going to let his longtime friend break the news himself.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026

Humphrys told The Times he "staggered" back to the office after a "lavish" lunch in August 1974 - and then told to break the news that US president Richard Nixon was resigning.

From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026

So when I called him to break the news, he started crying.

From Salon ● Mar. 24, 2026

I keep it vague because I don’t want to break the news to this bookseller that the customers he’s ringing up are dying at seventeen and eighteen.

From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera

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.

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