break down in English

Forms: broke down [past], broke down [past, participle], break down [canonical], breaks down [third-person, singular], broken down [past], broken down [past, participle], breaking down [present, participle] [Show additional information ▼] [Hide additional information ▲]

Head templates: {{verb|break down|breaks down|broke down|broke down|breaking down}} [POS TABLE], {{verb|break down|breaks down|broken down|broken down|breaking down}} [POS TABLE]

[Show JSON for postprocessed kaikki.org data shown on this page ▼] [Hide JSON for postprocessed kaikki.org data shown on this page ▲]

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "broke down",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "broke down",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "break down",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "breaks down",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "broken down",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "broken down",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "breaking down",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "break down",
        "2": "breaks down",
        "3": "broke down",
        "4": "broke down",
        "5": "breaking down"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "break down",
        "2": "breaks down",
        "3": "broken down",
        "4": "broken down",
        "5": "breaking down"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "As Betty was driving, her car broke down in the middle of the road."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If something breaks down, it fails, usually having to do with a machine of some kind."
      ],
      "id": "simple-break_down-en-verb-I8x3OdB-",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "If something living breaks down, it decays; it decomposes."
      ],
      "id": "simple-break_down-en-verb-LjGrKfGp",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "If someone breaks down, they become unstable, either in their mind or some other way."
      ],
      "id": "simple-break_down-en-verb-sqJ8Vf0i",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "If information or something else is broken down, it is given in great detail."
      ],
      "id": "simple-break_down-en-verb-LUx17l~9",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "break down"
}

[Show JSON for raw wiktextract data ▼] [Hide JSON for raw wiktextract data ▲]

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "broke down",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "broke down",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "break down",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "breaks down",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "broken down",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "broken down",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "breaking down",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "break down",
        "2": "breaks down",
        "3": "broke down",
        "4": "broke down",
        "5": "breaking down"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "break down",
        "2": "breaks down",
        "3": "broken down",
        "4": "broken down",
        "5": "breaking down"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "As Betty was driving, her car broke down in the middle of the road."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If something breaks down, it fails, usually having to do with a machine of some kind."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If something living breaks down, it decays; it decomposes."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If someone breaks down, they become unstable, either in their mind or some other way."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If information or something else is broken down, it is given in great detail."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "break down"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-05 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-04-03 using wiktextract (8c1bb29 and fb63907). 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.

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"break down" meaning in English

Verb