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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

“We don’t like to see the word ‘binding’ in contracts, and we have to cancel the project for reasons of sovereignty,” he said, according to Mr. Purvis, who was told to break the news to the Emiratis.

From The Wall Street Journal

It wasn’t easy to go into Lazarus’ office to break the news about her condition after just six months on the job and a massive task ahead.

From Los Angeles Times

However, the scientific paper detailing the discovery was published sooner than expected, meaning he had to break the news to him during a video call instead.

From BBC

It fell to Barshay to break the news.

From The Wall Street Journal

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.