5 ways to use 'break' - English In A Minute

We're going to look at

five different uses of the word 'break'.

As a verb, 'break' can have many meanings,

but today we're only going to look at three.

Number one.

It means to 'separate into pieces'.

Oh, I sat on my glasses,

but thankfully they didn't break!

Two,

break means that something

'doesn't operate or doesn't function properly'.

Why is my laptop not working?

Don't tell me it's broken.

And meaning number three.

It means to 'surpass or do better than something else'.

Have you seen that new horror film?

It broke all the box office records.

As an adjective, 'breaking' is very often used

together with the word 'news'

to mean that the news is 'very, very recent'.

I get breaking news notifications on my phone.

And finally, as a noun,

break means to 'stop working for a short time'.

It's time for a break!