break up meaning and definition

BREAK UP verb

Definition of break up (verb)

1. to cause to separate and go in different directions
   • "She waved her hand and scattered the crowds"
   • synonyms: dispel, disperse, dissipate, scatter
2. discontinue an association or relation; go different ways
   • "The business partners broke over a tax question"; "The couple separated after 25 years of marriage"; "My friend and I split up"
   • synonyms: break, part, separate, split, split up
3. come apart
   • "the group broke up"
4. break violently or noisily; smash;
   • synonyms: break apart, crash
5. make a break in
   • "We interrupt the program for the following messages"
   • synonyms: cut off, disrupt, interrupt
6. cause to go into a solution
   • "The recipe says that we should dissolve a cup of sugar in two cups of water"
   • synonyms: dissolve, resolve
7. suffer a nervous breakdown
   • synonyms: collapse, crack, crack up, crock up
8. take apart into its constituent pieces
   • synonyms: break apart, disassemble, dismantle, take apart
   • antonym: assemble
9. destroy the completeness of a set of related items
   • "The book dealer would not break the set"
   • synonyms: break
10. set or keep apart
    • "sever a relationship"
    • synonyms: sever
11. attack with or as if with a pickaxe of ice or rocky ground, for example
    • "Pick open the ice"
    • synonyms: pick
12. release ice
    • "The icebergs and glaciers calve"
    • synonyms: calve
13. close at the end of a session
    • "The court adjourned"
    • synonyms: adjourn, recess
14. bring the association of to an end or cause to break up
    • "The decree officially dissolved the marriage"; "the judge dissolved the tobacco company"
    • synonyms: dissolve
15. come to an end
    • "Their marriage dissolved"; "The tobacco monopoly broke up"
    • synonyms: dissolve
16. break or cause to break into pieces
    • "The plate fragmented"
    • synonyms: fragment, fragmentise, fragmentize
17. cause to separate
    • "break up kidney stones"; "disperse particles"
    • synonyms: disperse, scatter
18. separate (substances) into constituent elements or parts
    • synonyms: break down, decompose
19. laugh unrestrainedly
    • synonyms: crack up