"breaking" meaning in English

See breaking in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈbɹeɪkɪŋ/ Audio: en-us-breaking.ogg [US] Forms: breakings [plural]
Rhymes: -eɪkɪŋ Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} breaking (countable and uncountable, plural breakings)
  1. The act by which something is broken. Tags: countable, uncountable Translations (act by which something is broken): rompiĝo (Esperanto)
    Sense id: en-breaking-en-noun-fkGc6Jue Disambiguation of 'act by which something is broken': 100 0 0 0
  2. (linguistics) A change of a vowel to a diphthong. Tags: countable, uncountable Translations (in linguistics: vowel breaking): Brechung [feminine] (German)
    Sense id: en-breaking-en-noun-bgKzYOFY Categories (other): Linguistics Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences Disambiguation of 'in linguistics: vowel breaking': 0 56 44 0
  3. (music) A form of ornamentation in which groups of short notes are used instead of long ones. Tags: countable, uncountable
    Sense id: en-breaking-en-noun-ZCo~WGEK Categories (other): Music, Pages with 1 entry Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 2 5 36 40 17 Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music
  4. Breakdancing. Tags: countable, uncountable
    Sense id: en-breaking-en-noun-sd3Aibdg Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Esperanto translations, Terms with German translations, Dance Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 1 9 21 56 13 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 2 4 10 71 14 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 2 5 36 40 17 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 1 3 22 61 13 Disambiguation of Terms with Esperanto translations: 2 5 14 80 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 3 6 11 67 13 Disambiguation of Dance: 0 1 14 82 2

Verb

IPA: /ˈbɹeɪkɪŋ/ Audio: en-us-breaking.ogg [US]
Rhymes: -eɪkɪŋ Head templates: {{head|en|verb form}} breaking
  1. present participle and gerund of break Tags: form-of, gerund, participle, present Form of: break

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "breakings",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
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      "expansion": "breaking (countable and uncountable, plural breakings)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              55,
              64
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2009, John Renard, Tales of God's Friends: Islamic Hagiography in Translation, page 53:",
          "text": "We, on the other hand, do not reject the occurrence of breakings of the natural order of things that occur in connection with a prescribed proclamation […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The act by which something is broken."
      ],
      "id": "en-breaking-en-noun-fkGc6Jue",
      "links": [
        [
          "broken",
          "break"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0 0 0",
          "code": "eo",
          "lang": "Esperanto",
          "lang_code": "eo",
          "sense": "act by which something is broken",
          "word": "rompiĝo"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Linguistics",
          "orig": "en:Linguistics",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A change of a vowel to a diphthong."
      ],
      "id": "en-breaking-en-noun-bgKzYOFY",
      "links": [
        [
          "linguistics",
          "linguistics"
        ],
        [
          "vowel",
          "vowel"
        ],
        [
          "diphthong",
          "diphthong"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(linguistics) A change of a vowel to a diphthong."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
        "sciences"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 56 44 0",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "in linguistics: vowel breaking",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Brechung"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
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          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Music",
          "orig": "en:Music",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 5 36 40 17",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A form of ornamentation in which groups of short notes are used instead of long ones."
      ],
      "id": "en-breaking-en-noun-ZCo~WGEK",
      "links": [
        [
          "music",
          "music"
        ],
        [
          "ornamentation",
          "ornamentation"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(music) A form of ornamentation in which groups of short notes are used instead of long ones."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "entertainment",
        "lifestyle",
        "music"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "1 9 21 56 13",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 4 10 71 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 5 36 40 17",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "1 3 22 61 13",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 5 14 80",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Esperanto translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 6 11 67 13",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "0 1 14 82 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Dance",
          "orig": "en:Dance",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              31,
              39
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2014, Karen Schupp, Studying Dance: A Guide for Campus and Beyond, page 48:",
          "text": "The urban dance genre includes breaking, waacking, and house dancing, among others.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Breakdancing."
      ],
      "id": "en-breaking-en-noun-sd3Aibdg",
      "links": [
        [
          "Breakdancing",
          "breakdancing"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbɹeɪkɪŋ/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-breaking.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5b/En-us-breaking.ogg/En-us-breaking.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/En-us-breaking.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophone": "braking"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-eɪkɪŋ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "breaking"
}

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  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "verb form"
      },
      "expansion": "breaking",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "2 5 36 40 17",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "backbreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "barns-breaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "breaking and entering"
        },
        {
          "word": "breaking change"
        },
        {
          "word": "breakingly"
        },
        {
          "word": "breaking news"
        },
        {
          "word": "breaking of the waters"
        },
        {
          "word": "car breaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "codebreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "gamebreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "groundbreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "heartbreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "homebreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "horsebreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "housebreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "icebreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "inbreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "jawbreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "late-breaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "lawbreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "microbreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "non-breaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "nonbreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "oathbreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "outbreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "pairbreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "pathbreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "peacebreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "prison breaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "record-breaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "rulebreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "safebreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "sequence breaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "shipbreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "shopbreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "strikebreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "strike breaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "tiebreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "unbreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "windbreaking"
        },
        {
          "word": "worldbreaking"
        }
      ],
      "form_of": [
        {
          "word": "break"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "present participle and gerund of break"
      ],
      "id": "en-breaking-en-verb-fnkdaVz~",
      "links": [
        [
          "break",
          "break#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "form-of",
        "gerund",
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbɹeɪkɪŋ/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-breaking.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5b/En-us-breaking.ogg/En-us-breaking.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/En-us-breaking.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophone": "braking"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-eɪkɪŋ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "breaking"
}
{
  "categories": [
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    "Pages with entries",
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    "Rhymes:English/eɪkɪŋ/2 syllables",
    "Terms with Esperanto translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "en:Dance"
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  "forms": [
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      "form": "breakings",
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  "head_templates": [
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
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          "ref": "2009, John Renard, Tales of God's Friends: Islamic Hagiography in Translation, page 53:",
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          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The act by which something is broken."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "broken",
          "break"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
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      ],
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        "(linguistics) A change of a vowel to a diphthong."
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        "countable",
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        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
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        "(music) A form of ornamentation in which groups of short notes are used instead of long ones."
      ],
      "tags": [
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        "uncountable"
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      "topics": [
        "entertainment",
        "lifestyle",
        "music"
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        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
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          "Breakdancing",
          "breakdancing"
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      ],
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        "countable",
        "uncountable"
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  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbɹeɪkɪŋ/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-breaking.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5b/En-us-breaking.ogg/En-us-breaking.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/En-us-breaking.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophone": "braking"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-eɪkɪŋ"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "lang_code": "eo",
      "sense": "act by which something is broken",
      "word": "rompiĝo"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "in linguistics: vowel breaking",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Brechung"
    }
  ],
  "word": "breaking"
}

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    "English verb forms",
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    "Rhymes:English/eɪkɪŋ/2 syllables",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "en:Dance"
  ],
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      "word": "backbreaking"
    },
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    },
    {
      "word": "breaking and entering"
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    {
      "word": "breaking change"
    },
    {
      "word": "breakingly"
    },
    {
      "word": "breaking news"
    },
    {
      "word": "breaking of the waters"
    },
    {
      "word": "car breaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "codebreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "gamebreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "groundbreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "heartbreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "homebreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "horsebreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "housebreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "icebreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "inbreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "jawbreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "late-breaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "lawbreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "microbreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "non-breaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "nonbreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "oathbreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "outbreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "pairbreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "pathbreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "peacebreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "prison breaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "record-breaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "rulebreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "safebreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "sequence breaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "shipbreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "shopbreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "strikebreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "strike breaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "tiebreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "unbreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "windbreaking"
    },
    {
      "word": "worldbreaking"
    }
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
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          "word": "break"
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        "present participle and gerund of break"
      ],
      "links": [
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  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbɹeɪkɪŋ/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-breaking.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5b/En-us-breaking.ogg/En-us-breaking.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/En-us-breaking.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophone": "braking"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-eɪkɪŋ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "breaking"
}

Download raw JSONL data for breaking meaning in English (5.2kB)

{
  "called_from": "page/2530",
  "msg": "skipping string in the middle of translations: </table></div></div>\n\n",
  "path": [
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  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "noun",
  "title": "breaking",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). 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.