the breaks

Idioms  

1. Pieces of luck, turns of events, as in No matter how well he pitches, the team always makes fielding errors—that's the breaks, I guess, or There's not much you can do if the breaks are against you. In the singular and modified forms, this term becomes. In the plural form, only the context determines its favorable or unfavorable meaning. [Slang; early 1900s] Also see tough break.

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Example Sentences

Along the way, he didn’t just study the breaks of the greens.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026

Just take a break, have fun, and take the breaks we used to take when we used to watch those TV shows in the ’90s.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 2026

"I was just happy to make the breaks at the important times, no matter what they were. It was just about digging in and putting him under pressure."

From BBC • Apr. 30, 2025

What's happened is that a lot of the possibilities for the breaks to be applied have been removed.

From Salon • Jan. 29, 2025

She was all for teaching, but her method was to teach during practice and during the breaks in play.

From "Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference" by Warren St. John