commercial break

American

noun

a short interruption during radio or television programming for the broadcasting of a commercial or commercials.

commercial break British

noun

an interruption in a radio or television programme for the broadcasting of advertisements

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

commercial breaks

plural

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.

See Examples For:

commercial break

The nominations will be announced over about 20 minutes, with a gap in the middle to allow US network ABC to take a commercial break.

From BBC ● Jan. 21, 2026

And when Hollywood trades posted on social media that the award for best original score was announced during a commercial break, the Globes felt all the more distasteful.

From Salon ● Jan. 13, 2026

Anyway, DiCaprio got a little more animated at that moment than he was on the red carpet, but it took going to a commercial break for him to go truly meme-worthy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 12, 2026

After one of his sketches, the actual Sid Caesar might ever so briefly, in a stammering voice, appear before a commercial break to say: “We’ll be right back.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025

During a commercial break, I hustled to the hall bathroom to wet and comb antifrizz foam through my hair.

From "Hope Springs" by Jaime Berry

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023