"break bad" meaning in English

See break bad in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /bɹeɪk bæd/, /bɹæɪ̯k bæːd/ [General-Australian] Forms: breaks bad [present, singular, third-person], breaking bad [participle, present], broke bad [past], broken bad [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|break<,,broke,broken> bad}} break bad (third-person singular simple present breaks bad, present participle breaking bad, simple past broke bad, past participle broken bad)
  1. (colloquial, of an event or of one's fortunes) To go wrong; to go downhill. Tags: colloquial, of an event or of one's fortunes Categories (topical): Human behaviour Translations (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime): maldan behera joan (Basque), মন্দে পরিণত হওয়া (monde porinot hōẇa) (Bengali), 變壞 (Chinese Mandarin), 变坏 (biànhuài) (Chinese Mandarin), van het juiste pad afwijken (Dutch), mennä pieleen (Finnish), mal tourner (French), auf die schiefe Bahn geraten (German), 道を外す (michi o hazusu) (Japanese), zejść na złą drogę [perfective] (Polish), chutar o balde (Portuguese), пусти́ться во все тя́жкие (pustítʹsja vo vse tjážkije) (note: of people) [perfective] (Russian), сби́ться с пути́ (sbítʹsja s putí) [perfective] (Russian), испо́ртиться (ispórtitʹsja) [perfective] (Russian), zastraniti (Serbo-Croatian), krenuti stranputicom (Serbo-Croatian), straviàrisi (note: from an outsider POV) (Sicilian), sfàrisi (Sicilian), strammàrisi (Sicilian), pirdìrisi (Sicilian), fàrisi pùnciri (english: family crime jargon) (Sicilian), irse cuesta abajo (Spanish), iş çığırından çıkmak (Turkish), kötüye gitmek (Turkish)
    Sense id: en-break_bad-en-verb-5Hgf1VO9 Disambiguation of Human behaviour: 97 3 Categories (other): English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English light verb constructions, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 78 22 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 78 22 Disambiguation of English light verb constructions: 61 39 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 77 23 Disambiguation of 'to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime': 59 41
  2. (colloquial, especially Southern US and Midwestern US, of a person) To go bad; to turn toward immorality or crime. Tags: Midwestern-US, Southern-US, colloquial, especially, of a person Synonyms: go bad, go astray Related terms: bad break (english: see break)
    Sense id: en-break_bad-en-verb-dyBpkjz8 Categories (other): Midwest US English, Southern US English

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for break bad meaning in English (7.7kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "breaks bad",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "breaking bad",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "broke bad",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "broken bad",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "break<,,broke,broken> bad"
      },
      "expansion": "break bad (third-person singular simple present breaks bad, present participle breaking bad, simple past broke bad, past participle broken bad)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "78 22",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "78 22",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "61 39",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English light verb constructions",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "77 23",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "97 3",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Human behaviour",
          "orig": "en:Human behaviour",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1908, Rex Beach, The barrier, page 212",
          "text": "\"A woman came out from the East—Vermont, it was—and school-teaching was her line of business, only she hadn't been raised to it, and this was her first clatter at the game; but things had broke bad for her people, and ended in her pulling stakes and coming West all alone.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1913, William MacLeod Raine, Crooked trials and straight, page 134",
          "text": "Half the bad men are only coltish cowpunchers gone wrong through rotten whiskey and luck breaking bad for them.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To go wrong; to go downhill."
      ],
      "id": "en-break_bad-en-verb-5Hgf1VO9",
      "links": [
        [
          "go wrong",
          "go wrong"
        ],
        [
          "go downhill",
          "go downhill"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial, of an event or of one's fortunes) To go wrong; to go downhill."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "of an event or of one's fortunes"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "eu",
          "lang": "Basque",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "maldan behera joan"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "bn",
          "lang": "Bengali",
          "roman": "monde porinot hōẇa",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "মন্দে পরিণত হওয়া"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "變壞"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "biànhuài",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "变坏"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "van het juiste pad afwijken"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "mennä pieleen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "mal tourner"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "auf die schiefe Bahn geraten"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "michi o hazusu",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "道を外す"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "zejść na złą drogę"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "chutar o balde"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "note": "of people",
          "roman": "pustítʹsja vo vse tjážkije",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "пусти́ться во все тя́жкие"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "sbítʹsja s putí",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "сби́ться с пути́"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "ispórtitʹsja",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "испо́ртиться"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "zastraniti"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "krenuti stranputicom"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "scn",
          "lang": "Sicilian",
          "note": "from an outsider POV",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "straviàrisi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "scn",
          "lang": "Sicilian",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "sfàrisi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "scn",
          "lang": "Sicilian",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "strammàrisi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "scn",
          "lang": "Sicilian",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "pirdìrisi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "scn",
          "english": "family crime jargon",
          "lang": "Sicilian",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "fàrisi pùnciri"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "irse cuesta abajo"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "tr",
          "lang": "Turkish",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "iş çığırından çıkmak"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "code": "tr",
          "lang": "Turkish",
          "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
          "word": "kötüye gitmek"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "turn over a new leaf"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Midwest US English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Southern US English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005, Will D. Campbell, The Glad River, page 18",
          "text": "But somehow he broke bad when he was just a yearling boy, started running around at night with a bad crowd, drinking beer and wine, and fighting and getting in all kinds of trouble and wouldn't go to school.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, “Pilot”, in Breaking Bad, spoken by Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul)",
          "text": "Nah, come on, man! Some straight like you, giant stick up his ass, all of a sudden at age, what, sixty, he's just gonna break bad?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, John Grisham, The Racketeer",
          "text": "My nephew was breaking bad, getting deeper into the crack trade, […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To go bad; to turn toward immorality or crime."
      ],
      "id": "en-break_bad-en-verb-dyBpkjz8",
      "links": [
        [
          "go bad",
          "go bad"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial, especially Southern US and Midwestern US, of a person) To go bad; to turn toward immorality or crime."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "english": "see break",
          "word": "bad break"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "go bad"
        },
        {
          "word": "go astray"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Midwestern-US",
        "Southern-US",
        "colloquial",
        "especially",
        "of a person"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/bɹeɪk bæd/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/bɹæɪ̯k bæːd/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Breaking Bad"
  ],
  "word": "break bad"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English light verb constructions",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "English verbs",
    "en:Human behaviour"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "breaks bad",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "breaking bad",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "broke bad",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "broken bad",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "break<,,broke,broken> bad"
      },
      "expansion": "break bad (third-person singular simple present breaks bad, present participle breaking bad, simple past broke bad, past participle broken bad)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "english": "see break",
      "word": "bad break"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1908, Rex Beach, The barrier, page 212",
          "text": "\"A woman came out from the East—Vermont, it was—and school-teaching was her line of business, only she hadn't been raised to it, and this was her first clatter at the game; but things had broke bad for her people, and ended in her pulling stakes and coming West all alone.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1913, William MacLeod Raine, Crooked trials and straight, page 134",
          "text": "Half the bad men are only coltish cowpunchers gone wrong through rotten whiskey and luck breaking bad for them.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To go wrong; to go downhill."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "go wrong",
          "go wrong"
        ],
        [
          "go downhill",
          "go downhill"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial, of an event or of one's fortunes) To go wrong; to go downhill."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "of an event or of one's fortunes"
      ]
    },
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "turn over a new leaf"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Midwest US English",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "Southern US English"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005, Will D. Campbell, The Glad River, page 18",
          "text": "But somehow he broke bad when he was just a yearling boy, started running around at night with a bad crowd, drinking beer and wine, and fighting and getting in all kinds of trouble and wouldn't go to school.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, “Pilot”, in Breaking Bad, spoken by Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul)",
          "text": "Nah, come on, man! Some straight like you, giant stick up his ass, all of a sudden at age, what, sixty, he's just gonna break bad?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, John Grisham, The Racketeer",
          "text": "My nephew was breaking bad, getting deeper into the crack trade, […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To go bad; to turn toward immorality or crime."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "go bad",
          "go bad"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial, especially Southern US and Midwestern US, of a person) To go bad; to turn toward immorality or crime."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "go bad"
        },
        {
          "word": "go astray"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Midwestern-US",
        "Southern-US",
        "colloquial",
        "especially",
        "of a person"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/bɹeɪk bæd/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/bɹæɪ̯k bæːd/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "eu",
      "lang": "Basque",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "maldan behera joan"
    },
    {
      "code": "bn",
      "lang": "Bengali",
      "roman": "monde porinot hōẇa",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "মন্দে পরিণত হওয়া"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "變壞"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "biànhuài",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "变坏"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "van het juiste pad afwijken"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "mennä pieleen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "mal tourner"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "auf die schiefe Bahn geraten"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "michi o hazusu",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "道を外す"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "zejść na złą drogę"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "chutar o balde"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "note": "of people",
      "roman": "pustítʹsja vo vse tjážkije",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "пусти́ться во все тя́жкие"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "sbítʹsja s putí",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "сби́ться с пути́"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "ispórtitʹsja",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "испо́ртиться"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "zastraniti"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "krenuti stranputicom"
    },
    {
      "code": "scn",
      "lang": "Sicilian",
      "note": "from an outsider POV",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "straviàrisi"
    },
    {
      "code": "scn",
      "lang": "Sicilian",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "sfàrisi"
    },
    {
      "code": "scn",
      "lang": "Sicilian",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "strammàrisi"
    },
    {
      "code": "scn",
      "lang": "Sicilian",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "pirdìrisi"
    },
    {
      "code": "scn",
      "english": "family crime jargon",
      "lang": "Sicilian",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "fàrisi pùnciri"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "irse cuesta abajo"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "iş çığırından çıkmak"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime",
      "word": "kötüye gitmek"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Breaking Bad"
  ],
  "word": "break bad"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-17 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-01 using wiktextract (0b52755 and 5cb0836). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.