breakdown

[ breyk-doun ]

/ ˈbreɪkˌdaʊn /

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See synonyms for breakdown on Thesaurus.com

noun

a breaking down, wearing out, or sudden loss of ability to function efficiently, as of a machine.

a loss of mental or physical health; collapse.Compare nervous breakdown.

an analysis or classification of something; division into parts, categories, processes, etc.

Chemistry.

Electricity. an electric discharge passing through faulty insulation or other material used to separate circuits or passing between electrodes in a vacuum or gas-filled tube.

a noisy, lively folk dance.

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Origin of breakdown

First recorded in 1825–35; noun use of verb phrase break down

Words nearby breakdown

break bulk, break camp, break cover, break dance, break dancing, breakdown, breakdown van, breakdown voltage, breaker, breaker card, breakerless ignition

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use breakdown in a sentence

That will get you more granular information about your fitness data—including more detailed breakdowns of how it arrived at your stress score.
The new Fitbit knows when you’re stressed—and how to help you chill|Stan Horaczek|August 26, 2020|Popular-Science
Healthcare systems could get overloaded, tooOn top of a breakdown of the testing systems, there’s a serious concern that an influx of people with severe influenza could push healthcare systems over the edge too.
The COVID-19 pandemic is about to collide with flu season. Here’s what to expect.|Sara Chodosh|August 26, 2020|Popular-Science
The randomness of such a process would be able to account for the breakdown of homogeneity and isotropy in the early universe, without having to invoke any observer or measuring device.
Schrödinger’s Cat When Nobody Is Looking - Issue 89: The Dark Side|Daniel Sudarsky|August 26, 2020|Nautilus
In our conversation, Topol explained what we can and can’t expect from vaccines, what the communication breakdown over the pandemic has meant, and, surprisingly, why we can look on the bright side.
We Don’t Have to Despair - Issue 88: Love & Sex|Robert Bazell|August 12, 2020|Nautilus

Smaller DNA segments are assumed to represent older instances of mating across populations than longer segments due to the breakdown of shared segments in later generations.
South Americans may have traveled to Polynesia 800 years ago|Bruce Bower|July 8, 2020|Science News
The breakdown of the 114th Congress is 80 percent white, 80 percent male, and 92 percent Christian.
The Unbearable Whiteness of Congress|Dean Obeidallah|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Truth be told, there is no one better at capturing the agony and alarm of a woman in the throes of a nervous breakdown than Moore.
Julianne Moore Is Oscar Gold in ‘Still Alice’|Marlow Stern|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
No other neighborhood in Rome has the same demographic breakdown.
In Rome’s Riots, Cries for Mussolini and Attacks on Refugees|Barbie Latza Nadeau|November 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She remembers, of course, being tantalized by the tantalizing opening breakdown scene.
Eliza Coupe Finds Her ‘Happy Ending’ With ‘Benched’|Kevin Fallon|October 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
So definitely in that breakdown I used every bit of my personal life.
Eliza Coupe Finds Her ‘Happy Ending’ With ‘Benched’|Kevin Fallon|October 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Assuredly, this was an occasion when the sacrifice of a few minutes might avoid the grave risk of a breakdown after daybreak.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy
A coward by nature, he had been on the verge of a nervous breakdown before the trial, thinking of what might happen.
The Homesteader|Oscar Micheaux
He had been ailing for several weeks; as his son had remarked, his handwriting had been the first symptom of the breakdown.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume II (of 3)|Charles James Wills
It was a complete breakdown, pitiful from its contrast with the man's herculean physique and fine, if contracted, features.
The Circular Study|Anna Katharine Green
This alternative arrangement was a stand-by in case of breakdown of the steam pipes to these engines.
Loss of the Steamship 'Titanic'|British Government

British Dictionary definitions for breakdown

break down

verb (adverb)

(intr) to cease to function; become ineffectivecommunications had broken down

to yield or cause to yield, esp to strong emotion or tearsshe broke down in anguish

(tr) to crush or destroy

(intr) to have a nervous breakdown

to analyse or be subjected to analysis

to separate or cause to separate into simpler chemical elements; decompose

(tr) NZ to saw (a large log) into planks

break it down Australian and NZ informal

stop it
don't expect me to believe that; come off it

noun breakdown

an act or instance of breaking down; collapse

short for nervous breakdown

an analysis or classification of something into its component partshe prepared a breakdown of the report

the sudden electrical discharge through an insulator or between two electrodes in a vacuum or gas discharge tube

electrical engineering the sudden transition, dependent on the bias magnitude, from a high to a low dynamic resistance in a semiconductor device

a lively American country dance

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Medical definitions for breakdown

breakdown

[ brāk′doun′ ]

The act or process of failing to function or continue.

A typically sudden collapse in physical or mental health.

Disintegration or decomposition into parts or elements.

Other Idioms and Phrases with breakdown

break down

Demolish, destroy, either physically or figuratively, as in The carpenters broke down the partition between the bedrooms, or The governor's speeches broke down the teachers' opposition to school reform. [Late 1300s]

Separate into constituent parts, analyze. For example, I insisted that they break down the bill into the separate charges for parts and labor, or The chemist was trying to break down the compound's molecules. [Mid-1800s]

Stop functioning, cease to be effective or operable, as in The old dishwasher finally broke down. [Mid-1800s]

Become distressed or upset; also, have a physical or mental collapse, as in The funeral was too much for her and she broke down in tears, or After seeing all his work come to nothing, he broke down and had to be treated by a psychiatrist. [Late 1800s]

breakdown

Origin of breakdown

Words nearby breakdown

Words related to breakdown

How to use breakdown in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for breakdown

Medical definitions for breakdown

Other Idioms and Phrases with breakdown