"break the mold" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "From the use of molds to make multiple replicas of solid objects using moldable materials.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "breaks the mold",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "breaking the mold",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "broke the mold",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "broken the mold",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "break<,,broke,broken> the mold"
      },
      "expansion": "break the mold (third-person singular simple present breaks the mold, present participle breaking the mold, simple past broke the mold, past participle broken the mold)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1953, A. B. Guthrie Jr., Jack Sher, Shane, spoken by Shane (Alan Ladd)",
          "text": "A man has to be what he is, Joey. Can't break the mould. I tried it and it didn't work for me.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, Theodore R. Sizer, Horace's School: Redesigning the American High School, page 12",
          "text": "President Bush joined in; his 1991 education message called for new kinds of schools, ones that \"broke the mold\".",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 November 26, Oscar Lopez, “‘Today’s Outfit Is Confidence’: Atypical TikTok Star Enchants Mexico”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "Middle-aged and scarred, a Mexican journalist is breaking the mold of social media influencers with a message of pure positivity that resonates in dark times.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To depart from a traditional pattern; to defy convention."
      ],
      "id": "en-break_the_mold-en-verb-YqaKJV8p",
      "links": [
        [
          "defy",
          "defy"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) To depart from a traditional pattern; to defy convention."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to depart from tradition",
          "word": "aus dem Rahmen fallen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to depart from tradition",
          "word": "romper el molde"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to depart from tradition",
          "word": "romper esquemas"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "29 71",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2001, Adam Troy Castro, Spider-Man: Revenge of the Sinister Six",
          "text": "When they made him, they broke the mold. lt was a cliche that had been spoken about any number of men, for any number of different reasons.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To make it impossible for an identical copy to be made."
      ],
      "id": "en-break_the_mold-en-verb-SEoiYfU6",
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "44 56",
          "word": "break the mould"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-break the mold.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/f4/En-au-break_the_mold.ogg/En-au-break_the_mold.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/En-au-break_the_mold.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "break the mold"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From the use of molds to make multiple replicas of solid objects using moldable materials.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "breaks the mold",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "breaking the mold",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "broke the mold",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "broken the mold",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "break<,,broke,broken> the mold"
      },
      "expansion": "break the mold (third-person singular simple present breaks the mold, present participle breaking the mold, simple past broke the mold, past participle broken the mold)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1953, A. B. Guthrie Jr., Jack Sher, Shane, spoken by Shane (Alan Ladd)",
          "text": "A man has to be what he is, Joey. Can't break the mould. I tried it and it didn't work for me.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, Theodore R. Sizer, Horace's School: Redesigning the American High School, page 12",
          "text": "President Bush joined in; his 1991 education message called for new kinds of schools, ones that \"broke the mold\".",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 November 26, Oscar Lopez, “‘Today’s Outfit Is Confidence’: Atypical TikTok Star Enchants Mexico”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "Middle-aged and scarred, a Mexican journalist is breaking the mold of social media influencers with a message of pure positivity that resonates in dark times.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To depart from a traditional pattern; to defy convention."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "defy",
          "defy"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) To depart from a traditional pattern; to defy convention."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2001, Adam Troy Castro, Spider-Man: Revenge of the Sinister Six",
          "text": "When they made him, they broke the mold. lt was a cliche that had been spoken about any number of men, for any number of different reasons.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To make it impossible for an identical copy to be made."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-break the mold.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/f4/En-au-break_the_mold.ogg/En-au-break_the_mold.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/En-au-break_the_mold.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "break the mould"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to depart from tradition",
      "word": "aus dem Rahmen fallen"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to depart from tradition",
      "word": "romper el molde"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to depart from tradition",
      "word": "romper esquemas"
    }
  ],
  "word": "break the mold"
}