breaking point
Americannoun
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breaking points
plural
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the point at which a person, object, structure, etc., collapses under stress.
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the point at which a situation or condition becomes critical.
noun
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the point at which something or someone gives way under strain
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the moment of crisis in a situation
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of breaking point
First recorded in 1895–1900
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.
The difficulty is that someone needs to define “cannot”—the moment at which a breaking point has been reached.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
Funding of councils, says the JRF, is "stretched to breaking point", with the current model "increasingly unfit for purpose" and "hampering local efforts to reduce poverty".
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
The harder truth, the one I lived next door to for 16 years, is that there was no single breaking point.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
“We’re at this breaking point of not just being underground,” he adds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
And I could sense her anger rising to its breaking point.
From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
