break up
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To end a relationship.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
braykuhpSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɹeɪˈkʌp
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
intransitiveidiomatic
To end a (usually romantic or sexual) relationship.
transitive
To upset greatly; to cause great emotional disturbance or unhappiness in.
intransitiveidiomatic
Of a school, to close for the holidays at the end of term.
intransitive
To break or separate into pieces; to disintegrate or come apart.
transitiveidiomatic
To stop a fight; to separate people who are fighting.
Make a break in
noun
The act of breaking up; disintegration or division.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To end a (usually romantic or sexual) relationship.
Used this way, break up is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in relationships contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Relationships
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.