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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.

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

From Salon • Mar. 24, 2026

It fell to Barshay to break the news.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026

Balde said he was "devastated" and had to break the news to his wife.

From Barron's • Dec. 17, 2025

In April 1968, when Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, it fell to Robert F. Kennedy to break the news to a largely Black crowd in Indianapolis.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 6, 2025

One look at each other and both knew it wasn’t necessary to break the news.

From "Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Balliett

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.