break down

Language: en

Meaning: ; (intransitive,of amachine,computer,vehicle, etc.)Tostopfunctioning.I am afraid my computer willbreak downif I try to run it at too high a speed.; ; (intransitive)Tounexpectedlycollapse,physicallyor instructure.Coordinate terms:break apart,break up,fall apart,fall down; ; (transitive)Tointentionallydemolish; topull down.Coordinate terms:break apart,break up,tear down; ; (intransitive)Tofail, especiallysociallyor forpoliticalreasons.Coordinate terms:break apart,break upTalksbroke downbetween Prime Minister John Doe and the opposition party.Relationsbroke downbetween Greece and Turkey.; ; (intransitive,idiomatic)Togive inorgive up: relent, concede, surrender.Is it worth taking it to a repair shop, or should I justbreak downand buy a new one?; ; (ergative,figuratively)To render or to becomeunstabledue to stress, tocollapsephysically or mentally.Near-synonym:come undoneShe is back to work now, after shebroke downthe other day.1921,Ben Travers,A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.:Doubleday, Page & Company, published1925,→OCLC:Sophiabroke downhere. Even at this moment she was subconsciously comparing her rendering of the part of the forlorn bride with Miss Marie Lohr's.1936 Sept. 15,F. Scott Fitzgerald,letterto Beatrice Dance:As toErnest... He is quite as nervouslybroken downas I am but it manifests itself in different ways. His inclination is towards megalomania and mine towards melancholy.; ; (ergative,figuratively)To render or to becomeweakandineffective.Coordinate terms:wear away,wear downHis authority and influence over his coordinatesbroke downgradually.2012June 2, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Belgium”, inBBC Sport:Hodgson's approach may not illuminate proceedings in Poland and Ukraine but early evidence suggests they will be tough tobreak down.; ; (ergative)To (cause to)decay, todecompose.Leaves and grass willbreak downinto compost faster if you keep them moist.; ; To separate into a number of parts.Near-synonyms:break apart,break up,take apart,tear down,tear up1950June, N. H. Bousfield, “Angers, a French Provincial Railway Centre”, inRailway Magazine, page371:The goods station is a transhipment centre (centre de transbordement) at which loads made up at other centres arebroken downand redespatched to destinations in the area.1973December 29, “Lesbian Questionnaire”, inGay Community News, volume 1, number28, page 1:Meetings began in June and shortly after the group of twelve women decided tobreak-downinto two sub groups in order to examine the subject more efficiently.; ; (ergative,figuratively)Todivideinto parts to give more details, to provide a moreindepthanalysis of.Near-synonym:analyzeIf you don't understand, ask him tobreak downthe numbers for you.; ; (ergative)Todigest.Near-synonym:catabolizeHis stomach took a while tobreak downhis food.His food took a while tobreak downin his stomach.

Examples:

EN: Hoping for relief from the hallucinations of his nervous break down
ES: Esperando aliviar las alucinaciones de su crisis nerviosa
EN: Come on, break down that door.
ES: Vamos, derribad esa puerta.
EN: Come out or I'll break down that door.
ES: Sal de ahí o echaré la puerta abajo.
EN: Why don't you break down and have a good cry?
ES: ¿Por qué no rompes a llorar?
EN: I might break down and dance with you.
ES: Puede que me rinda y baile contigo.
EN: Because you're such a good scout, I'm gonna break down and confess and tell you.
ES: Como es usted buena persona se lo confesaré.
EN: Oh. We had a break down 50 miles away.
ES: Tuvimos una avería.
EN: Hey, you got to know break down.
ES: Ten cuidado de no romperlo.
EN: Epidemics of every kind must break down any resistance on the pad of the people.
ES: Epidemias de todo tipo deben echar abajo cualquier resistencia por parte de la gente.
EN: Even if they do come, how can they break down that door?
ES: Aún si vienen, ¿cómo van a derribar la puerta?
EN: Well... I guess I'm supposed to break down and weep.
ES: Bueno, supongo que tendría que derrumbarme y romper a llorar.
EN: Now break down and confess everything.
ES: Ahora, ríndete y confiésalo todo.
EN: Have you ever thought that my strenght may break down in the journey ?
ES: ¿Has pensado alguna vez que mi fortaleza se puede romper en el viaje?
EN: I'm gonna break down and weep on your shoulder.
ES: Vete o me pondré a llorar.
EN: Sorry we were late, but we had to break down the door.
ES: Disculpe el retraso, pero tuvimos que derribar la puerta.

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).

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