breakup
Americannoun
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disintegration; disruption; dispersal.
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the ending of a personal, especially a romantic, relationship.
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(in Alaska and Canada)
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the melting and loosening of ice in rivers and harbors during the early spring.
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the first day on which such ice is soft or dispersed enough to permit ships to use the waterways.
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Informal. an act or instance of being convulsed with laughter.
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temporary distortion in a televised picture.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of breakup
First recorded in 1785–95; noun use of verb phrase break up
Explanation
A breakup is when something comes apart or separates into pieces, like the breakup of a comet that eventually produces a meteor shower we can see from Earth. The breakup of ice on a lake in spring, melting and cracking into separate chunks, means it's no longer safe to walk on. When a relationship ends that's a breakup too: "After the breakup, they moved out and got separate apartments, and now they share custody of their cat." You can also use this word for the split between other entities, like the breakup of a church into different sects or the breakup of a treaty between several countries.
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.
BREAKUP: EBay jumped 7 percent, the biggest gain in the S&P 500, following news that it plans to spin off its PayPal payment service into a publicly traded company next year.
From US News • Sep. 30, 2014
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.
