emergency brake
Americannoun
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Also called parking brake. a special brake used to prevent a motor vehicle from rolling after it has stopped or been parked.
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any brake meant to stop a vehicle in an emergency.
Etymology
Origin of emergency brake
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.
Scientists sometimes describe methane reduction as an "emergency brake" for climate change because lowering methane levels could help slow warming within the next decade and potentially reduce the risk of climate tipping points.
From Science Daily • May 10, 2026
Identifying these risks is a net gain to the world, not a disaster, not a reason to pull the emergency brake on AI.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026
After seeing Jaiden start to cross the railway, the driver sounded the horn and applied the emergency brake.
From BBC • Nov. 4, 2025
They witnessed history when their leader fulfilled a dream to play with his son, they reshaped their culture with one trade and pulled the emergency brake to get out of another.
From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2025
In the tumult, someone pulled the emergency brake.
From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
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.
