See break the Internet in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for break the Internet meaning in English (8.4kB)
{
"etymology_text": "Early use of the phrase (circa the mid-1990s) refers to literally breaking the Internet connection of a single device. It also refers to breaking the World Wide Web or the Internet itself, with the implication that it would be impossible or implausible to do so in most ordinary contexts.\nA figurative usage of the phrase emerged in the early 2000s. Rather than the Internet or an Internet connection literally breaking, the figurative meaning describes a web server becoming overwhelmed by a surge in organic, non-malicious web traffic. It can also describe a deliberate, malicious attempt to overwhelm a web server, as in a denial-of-service attack or other cyberattack.\nIn the early 2010s, \"break the internet\" developed a secondary figurative usage in Internet slang. Similar to \"going viral\", the slang usage refers to behavior that causes a dramatic increase in web traffic or social media commentary, especially when the behavior was ostentatious or controversial. The phrase was famously used on the November 2014 issue of Paper magazine, titled \"Break the Internet\" and featuring American celebrity Kim Kardashian on the cover. The magazine was not the first to use the phrase in this sense, but it did popularize it.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "breaks the Internet",
"tags": [
"present",
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},
{
"form": "breaking the Internet",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "broke the Internet",
"tags": [
"past"
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},
{
"form": "broken the Internet",
"tags": [
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}
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"1": "break<,,broke,broken> the Internet"
},
"expansion": "break the Internet (third-person singular simple present breaks the Internet, present participle breaking the Internet, simple past broke the Internet, past participle broken the Internet)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "American English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "34 21 22 23",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
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"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1996 Sacha Cohen, John Makulowich, Warren Shaver, Training & Development (cited in 2016 Merriam-Webster.com, \"Words We're Watching: Break the Internet\")",
"text": "“Click on everything including graphics, buttons, and links, to see where they lead. Don't be afraid to get lost, and don't worry about making mistakes. 'You can't break the Internet,' says Warren Shaver, project manager for ASTD Online Services.”"
},
{
"ref": "2014, Astra Taylor, chapter 4, in The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company",
"text": "Advocacy groups warned that entertainment companies—who invested heavily in lobbying for the bills—where trying to “break the Internet”; […]",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To cause a connection to the Internet, or the Internet itself, to malfunction."
],
"id": "en-break_the_Internet-en-verb-EJg5lCIi",
"links": [
[
"Internet",
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],
"raw_glosses": [
"(chiefly US, idiomatic, colloquial, literally) To cause a connection to the Internet, or the Internet itself, to malfunction."
],
"related": [
{
"_dis1": "64 10 13 13",
"word": "go viral"
},
{
"_dis1": "64 10 13 13",
"word": "denial-of-service attack"
},
{
"_dis1": "64 10 13 13",
"word": "slashdot"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "64 10 13 13",
"word": "break the interwebs"
},
{
"_dis1": "64 10 13 13",
"word": "break the web"
},
{
"_dis1": "64 10 13 13",
"word": "break the internet"
},
{
"_dis1": "64 10 13 13",
"word": "break the internets"
}
],
"tags": [
"US",
"colloquial",
"idiomatic",
"literally"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "63 10 14 13",
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "to literally break the Internet",
"word": "briser l’Internet"
},
{
"_dis1": "63 10 14 13",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to literally break the Internet",
"word": "romper Internet"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Computing",
"orig": "en:Computing",
"parents": [
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"All topics",
"Fundamental"
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"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2001 Time Out (cited in 2016 Merriam-Webster.com, \"Words We're Watching: Break the Internet\")",
"text": "“Well furnished Dahlings, don't all rush on at once as you might break the internet, but The Conran Shop has a new website!”"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To overwhelm a web server through organic user-driven demand, such that the server goes offline or is in danger of doing so."
],
"id": "en-break_the_Internet-en-verb-IrJXIYMT",
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"raw_glosses": [
"(computing, idiomatic, figuratively, humorous) To overwhelm a web server through organic user-driven demand, such that the server goes offline or is in danger of doing so."
],
"tags": [
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"categories": [
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"glosses": [
"To deliberately overwhelm a web server through a cyberattack such as a DDOS, such that the server goes offline or is in danger of doing so."
],
"id": "en-break_the_Internet-en-verb-K1qbQD2W",
"links": [
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"DDOS"
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],
"raw_glosses": [
"(computing, idiomatic, figuratively) To deliberately overwhelm a web server through a cyberattack such as a DDOS, such that the server goes offline or is in danger of doing so."
],
"tags": [
"figuratively",
"idiomatic"
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"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2014, Charlotte Alter, “What Does It Mean to 'Break the Internet'?”, in Time",
"text": "“Obviously, Kim isn’t the first person to claim to ’break the Internet.’ In September Taylor Swift “broke the Internet” when she wore a T-shirt saying ’no it’s Becky,’ a super-meta reference to a Tumblr post where a user insisted that a picture of young Taylor was, in fact, someone named Becky. Beyoncé’s surprise album ’broke the Internet’ when she secretly released it last year. Alex from Target ’broke the Internet’ just by looking cute at work. Even Obama’s sensationally tan suit was almost able (but not quite) to ’break the Internet,’ according to Shape magazine.”",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2023 November 18, Jess Cartner-Morley, Chloe Mac Donnell, “40 outrageous photos that changed fashion, from teenage Kate Moss to Twiggy in a mini and Lady Gaga’s meat dress”, in The Guardian, →ISSN",
"text": "After the singer and actor wore it on the 2000 Grammy awards red carpet, the tech team at Google noticed it was the most popular search query ever. […] At a 2019 Versace show, J-Lo broke the internet again when she wore a take on the original dress.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To do or say something ostentatious or controversial, such that the behavior causes a dramatic increase in traffic to a website or commentary on social media; to go viral."
],
"id": "en-break_the_Internet-en-verb-8QJXG0gh",
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],
"raw_glosses": [
"(Internet slang, idiomatic, figuratively, humorous) To do or say something ostentatious or controversial, such that the behavior causes a dramatic increase in traffic to a website or commentary on social media; to go viral."
],
"tags": [
"Internet",
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"etymology_text": "Early use of the phrase (circa the mid-1990s) refers to literally breaking the Internet connection of a single device. It also refers to breaking the World Wide Web or the Internet itself, with the implication that it would be impossible or implausible to do so in most ordinary contexts.\nA figurative usage of the phrase emerged in the early 2000s. Rather than the Internet or an Internet connection literally breaking, the figurative meaning describes a web server becoming overwhelmed by a surge in organic, non-malicious web traffic. It can also describe a deliberate, malicious attempt to overwhelm a web server, as in a denial-of-service attack or other cyberattack.\nIn the early 2010s, \"break the internet\" developed a secondary figurative usage in Internet slang. Similar to \"going viral\", the slang usage refers to behavior that causes a dramatic increase in web traffic or social media commentary, especially when the behavior was ostentatious or controversial. The phrase was famously used on the November 2014 issue of Paper magazine, titled \"Break the Internet\" and featuring American celebrity Kim Kardashian on the cover. The magazine was not the first to use the phrase in this sense, but it did popularize it.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "breaks the Internet",
"tags": [
"present",
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"third-person"
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{
"form": "breaking the Internet",
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"form": "broke the Internet",
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"form": "broken the Internet",
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"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "go viral"
},
{
"word": "denial-of-service attack"
},
{
"word": "slashdot"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"American English",
"English colloquialisms",
"English idioms",
"English terms with quotations"
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1996 Sacha Cohen, John Makulowich, Warren Shaver, Training & Development (cited in 2016 Merriam-Webster.com, \"Words We're Watching: Break the Internet\")",
"text": "“Click on everything including graphics, buttons, and links, to see where they lead. Don't be afraid to get lost, and don't worry about making mistakes. 'You can't break the Internet,' says Warren Shaver, project manager for ASTD Online Services.”"
},
{
"ref": "2014, Astra Taylor, chapter 4, in The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company",
"text": "Advocacy groups warned that entertainment companies—who invested heavily in lobbying for the bills—where trying to “break the Internet”; […]",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To cause a connection to the Internet, or the Internet itself, to malfunction."
],
"links": [
[
"Internet",
"Internet"
],
[
"malfunction",
"malfunction"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(chiefly US, idiomatic, colloquial, literally) To cause a connection to the Internet, or the Internet itself, to malfunction."
],
"tags": [
"US",
"colloquial",
"idiomatic",
"literally"
]
},
{
"categories": [
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"English idioms",
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "2001 Time Out (cited in 2016 Merriam-Webster.com, \"Words We're Watching: Break the Internet\")",
"text": "“Well furnished Dahlings, don't all rush on at once as you might break the internet, but The Conran Shop has a new website!”"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To overwhelm a web server through organic user-driven demand, such that the server goes offline or is in danger of doing so."
],
"links": [
[
"computing",
"computing#Noun"
],
[
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[
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"(computing, idiomatic, figuratively, humorous) To overwhelm a web server through organic user-driven demand, such that the server goes offline or is in danger of doing so."
],
"tags": [
"figuratively",
"humorous",
"idiomatic"
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"topics": [
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{
"categories": [
"English idioms",
"en:Computing"
],
"glosses": [
"To deliberately overwhelm a web server through a cyberattack such as a DDOS, such that the server goes offline or is in danger of doing so."
],
"links": [
[
"computing",
"computing#Noun"
],
[
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],
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],
[
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]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(computing, idiomatic, figuratively) To deliberately overwhelm a web server through a cyberattack such as a DDOS, such that the server goes offline or is in danger of doing so."
],
"tags": [
"figuratively",
"idiomatic"
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{
"ref": "2014, Charlotte Alter, “What Does It Mean to 'Break the Internet'?”, in Time",
"text": "“Obviously, Kim isn’t the first person to claim to ’break the Internet.’ In September Taylor Swift “broke the Internet” when she wore a T-shirt saying ’no it’s Becky,’ a super-meta reference to a Tumblr post where a user insisted that a picture of young Taylor was, in fact, someone named Becky. Beyoncé’s surprise album ’broke the Internet’ when she secretly released it last year. Alex from Target ’broke the Internet’ just by looking cute at work. Even Obama’s sensationally tan suit was almost able (but not quite) to ’break the Internet,’ according to Shape magazine.”",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2023 November 18, Jess Cartner-Morley, Chloe Mac Donnell, “40 outrageous photos that changed fashion, from teenage Kate Moss to Twiggy in a mini and Lady Gaga’s meat dress”, in The Guardian, →ISSN",
"text": "After the singer and actor wore it on the 2000 Grammy awards red carpet, the tech team at Google noticed it was the most popular search query ever. […] At a 2019 Versace show, J-Lo broke the internet again when she wore a take on the original dress.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To do or say something ostentatious or controversial, such that the behavior causes a dramatic increase in traffic to a website or commentary on social media; to go viral."
],
"links": [
[
"Internet",
"Internet"
],
[
"slang",
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],
[
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"humorous"
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[
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],
"raw_glosses": [
"(Internet slang, idiomatic, figuratively, humorous) To do or say something ostentatious or controversial, such that the behavior causes a dramatic increase in traffic to a website or commentary on social media; to go viral."
],
"tags": [
"Internet",
"figuratively",
"humorous",
"idiomatic"
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"synonyms": [
{
"word": "break the interwebs"
},
{
"word": "break the web"
},
{
"word": "break the internet"
},
{
"word": "break the internets"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "to literally break the Internet",
"word": "briser l’Internet"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to literally break the Internet",
"word": "romper Internet"
}
],
"word": "break the Internet"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-22 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (fc4f0c7 and c937495). 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.