First recorded in 1945–50
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Gators like to get out in the fast break, but Iowa countered with a snail-paced offense style of any team in the nation this season.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
With less than five minutes left, Londynn Jones forced a turnover, dove for a loose ball and started a fast break that was finished by Kara Dunn.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 7, 2025
A Jamerson block started another fast break that led to another Brown driving layup.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2025
The cornerstones of Booker’s game will now be doing traditional big-man things and using the speed that could make him a menace in the lob game and on the fast break.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2025
I got another chance on a fast break, and I could have passed, but I forced a difficult shot because I’d missed the last one.
From "All American Boys" by Jason Reynolds
“I think you’re not going to be perfect; you’re going to have turnovers. Just trying to eliminate the live-ball turnovers where they get easy fast-break layups or threes or dunks.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
Texas isn’t going to deliver many three-point blows, but the Longhorns can take the ball away and chip away with fast-break points in the paint.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2026
The Suns outscored the Lakers 16-0 in fast-break points.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 2, 2025
The forward limped off the court holding the back of his leg after appearing to get injured attempting a fast-break layup in the third quarter.
From Seattle Times ● May 9, 2024
He scored a fast-break layup with his left hand, pulled us within four.
From "We Were Here" by Matt De La Peña
About 3,800 iftar fast-breaking meals are served each evening, financed largely through online contributions, organisers say.
From Barron's ● Feb. 24, 2026
Plainclothes agents arrested Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University graduate student from Turkey, on a sidewalk Tuesday as she walked to see friends for the traditional fast-breaking during the Islamic month of Ramadan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2025
Speaking to a group of young people at a Ramadan fast-breaking meal in Ankara on Tuesday, President Erdogan urged patience and common sense amid what he described as "very sensitive days."
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2025
With the same deft touch as one of her down-court passes for an assist to a fast-breaking teammate, Clark has connected present to past.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 3, 2024
By aid of the fast-breaking dawn, they could see the line of high, dark rocks, upon which the ship had met her fate.
From Dyke Darrel the Railroad Detective Or, The Crime of the Midnight Express by A. Frank [pseud.] Pinkerton
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.
