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break down

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: break down

1
 v
stop operating or functioning
2
 v
make a mathematical, chemical, or grammatical analysis of; break down into components or essential features
FULL DEFINITIONS OF: break down
1

v stop operating or functioning

Synonyms:
break, conk out, die, fail, give out, give way, go, go bad
break
render inoperable or ineffective
buy the farm, cash in one's chips, choke, conk, croak, decease, die, drop dead, exit, expire, give-up the ghost, go, kick the bucket, pass, pass away, perish, pop off, snuff it
pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
Types:
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crash, go down
stop operating
blow, blow out, burn out
melt, break, or become otherwise unusable
misfire
fail to fire or detonate
malfunction, misfunction
fail to function or function improperly
jam
get stuck and immobilized
Type of:
change
undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature

v fall apart

“Negotiations broke down”
Synonyms:
collapse, crumble, crumple, tumble
Type of:
change integrity
change in physical make-up

v collapse due to fatigue, an illness, or a sudden attack

Synonyms:
collapse
Types:
drop like flies
rapidly collapse, die, or drop out in large numbers
fall over, go over
fall forward and down
Type of:
get, have, suffer, sustain
undergo (as of injuries and illnesses)

v cause to fall or collapse

Type of:
break, bust
ruin completely

v make ineffective

“Martin Luther King tried to break down racial discrimination”
Synonyms:
crush
Type of:
alter, change, modify
cause to change; make different; cause a transformation

v lose control of one's emotions

Synonyms:
lose it, snap
Types:
dissolve
lose control emotionally
die
be brought to or as if to the point of death by an intense emotion such as embarrassment, amusement, or shame
fall apart, go to pieces
lose one's emotional or mental composure
Type of:
act, behave, do
behave in a certain manner; show a certain behavior; conduct or comport oneself
2

v make a mathematical, chemical, or grammatical analysis of; break down into components or essential features

Synonyms:
analyse, analyze, dissect, take apart
Antonyms:
synthesise, synthesize
combine so as to form a more complex, product
Types:
parse
analyze syntactically by assigning a constituent structure to (a sentence)
botanise, botanize
collect and study plants

v separate (substances) into constituent elements or parts

Synonyms:
break up, decompose
Types:
digest
soften or disintegrate by means of chemical action, heat, or moisture
dissociate
to undergo a reversible or temporary breakdown of a molecule into simpler molecules or atoms
crack
reduce (petroleum) to a simpler compound by cracking
Type of:
separate
divide into components or constituents
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