break up
phrasal verbbreak up
- to separate into smaller pieces
- The ship broke up on the rocks.
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- to come to an end
- Their marriage has broken up.
- to go away in different directions
- The meeting broke up at eleven o'clock.
- (especially British English) to begin the holidays when school closes at the end of a term
- When do you break up for Christmas?
- (British English) to become very weak
- He was breaking up under the strain.
- (North American English) to laugh very hard
- She's so funny she just breaks me up.
- when a person who is talking on a mobile phone breaks up, you can no longer hear them clearly because the signal has been interrupted
break somebody up
- (especially North American English) to make somebody feel upset
- The thought of hurting her just breaks me up.
break something up
- to make something separate into smaller pieces; to divide something into smaller parts
- The ship was broken up for scrap metal.
- Sentences can be broken up into clauses.
- She broke the chocolate up into small pieces.
- to end a relationship, a company, etc.
- They decided to break up the partnership.
- to make people leave something or stop doing something, especially by using force
- Police were called in to break up the fight.
break up (with somebody)
- to end a relationship with somebody
- She's just broken up with her boyfriend.