14 Natural English Phrases with “Break” You Will Actually Use [490]

🚨Improve your English with structured online lessons. Book a free trial and get clear feedback on your level, pronunciation and speaking. Book here ➡️  https://www.englishlessonviaskype.com/trial

In this episode, you’ll learn natural English phrases and expressions that use the word break.

Many learners know the basic meaning of break, but fluent speakers use it in many different ways — in conversations about work, relationships, rules, news, and everyday situations.

I explain:

• what each expression really means
• when it sounds natural
• and how to use it correctly in context

These phrases will help you avoid literal translations and speak more confidently in real conversations.

Ideal for intermediate and upper-intermediate learners who want more flexible, natural English.

If you often hesitate, make mistakes, or feel unsure when speaking English, book a trial lesson. We assess your level, correct you clearly, and give you a focused plan so you know exactly what to improve.

Book a free trial here: https://www.englishlessonviaskype.com/trial

If you prefer to study on your own, explore our online courses. They give you structured lessons to build stronger grammar, clearer pronunciation, and more confident speaking step by step

Discover all courses and guides: https://englishlessonviaskype.com/confidence

Transcript

0:09

Hi there, this is Harry and welcome back to Advanced English Lessons with Harry where I try to help you to get a better understanding of the English language. So anything that you need, you know where to contact me, www.englishlessonviaskype.com. I'm always very, very happy to hear from you. What are we going to look at in this particular lesson? Well, we're looking at expressions and idioms to do with the word break. We've got a lot of them. There are 14. So I'll go through them one by one and then I'll give you some examples. Break a habit. Well, usually when we have habits, they can often be bad habits. Smoking, drinking, lazy, whatever they are, they are bad habits. And when somebody wants us to stop, we have to break the habit. Ah, I saw Jonathan last week. He's not smoking. He hasn't smoked for, he says, three months. He's really broken the habit. It's really great because it's going to be really good for his health. In fact, when I saw him, he was out jogging. I've never seen him jog before to break the habit. Break the habit of a lifetime. I wish I didn't wake up every morning at 5.30. It's quite annoying. Everybody's asleep and I wake up, but I and I don't even need an alarm. I just wake up. Whether I go to bed at midnight or one in the morning, I still wake up at 5.30. I'd love to break the habit. Break the bank. Often we use this negatively. Ah, that's not going to break the bank. So your partner says, why don't we go to the movies on Saturday and grab a pizza before or afterwards? Yeah, sure, why not? It's a great idea. We haven't done it for ages. It's not going to break the bank. It's only just the pizza and the movies. We'll get the early bird menu. So, you know, it's really, really going to be good. So it's not going to break the bank. Or we're going to carry out a new advertising campaign and we're probably going to advertise on social media. Okay, well, let's do it, but let's not break the bank. Let's just take it slowly at the beginning, see what sort of return, see what interest we get. And if it works out, well, fair enough. We can go back later on and do it again, but not at the beginning. Let's not break the bank. Let's not overspend. Break even. When we break even, it means we neither make profit nor loss. The business broke even for the first few years, which is quite amazing, actually, because we had a lot of setup costs. We had to get the property rented, painted, decorated, fitted out. And even still, we made a little bit of money. And then with the other costs and expenses, we just about broke even. And we did that for the first couple of years. So we've got over that little problem. And I think for the next few years, we should be able to make a small profit. So to break even means you don't lose money, but you don't absolutely make money. And often we're quite happy just to break even. I spent a lot of money buying some camera equipment a few years ago, really thinking I was going to get into photography, but I didn't really like it. There wasn't really my cup of tea. So I sold all of the equipment on eBay, actually, and I broke even. I was really surprised. So I effectively got my money back, even though the cameras were a couple of years old. So nothing ventured, nothing gained. I broke even. Break fresh ground. Well, when we break fresh ground, it usually means we're going to start something new, a new venture. The business focused almost entirely on national and local issues. We sold our products in the local markets. We distributed it to the local supermarkets around the country. But we were getting to the stage where we needed to make some progress. So we decided to go overseas, to break fresh ground, to find new markets. We got invited to a particular exhibition. We made some contacts and it's beginning to prove worthwhile and profitable. So to break fresh ground, do something new, do something different. Break the ice. Well, that's the classic situation when you're in the elevator, you're stuck there, or at the beginning of a meeting, you don't know anybody, or you've gone to visit the in-laws for the first time, whoever it happens to be, somebody has to start the conversation. People are looking a little bit nervous or embarrassed or shy. So somebody breaks the ice. Well, the weather's good, isn't it? Did you see that new film? Do you see what they've done to the high street? So little topics, little chit-chat conversations that will very definitely break the ice, get people feeling a little less uncomfortable, a little bit more relaxed. And then you can get down to business. You go to the boss to talk about your salary rise or your promotion or your appraisal. And he starts asking you about, oh, how's the work going? Were you at the football match? Did you get everything sorted out in your new home? And these are all little topics to break the ice. And then, okay, look, let's get down to business, to break the ice. And for those of you and your friends or family who want one-to-one lessons, well, you know what to do. Just get in touch, www.englishlessonviaskype.com and you can apply for a free trial lesson and we'll be very happy to hear from you and very happy to help you. Break the news. Ask Dr. Johnston to help me break the news to her tomorrow. Often this is about bad news. Somebody has to break the news. You're talking to your sister. You didn't do particularly well in your exams. In fact, you were very disappointed. And your sister says, well, okay, now you have to tell mum and dad who's going to break the news. Do you want me to do it for you? No, no, I'll do it. I'd better get it over with. Yeah? To break the news. You have to tell something to somebody, something bad. We'll have to break the news to the staff sooner or later. You know, they're beginning to talk about it. They know we've got problems. They really think we're going to sack a few people. So better to break the news sooner rather than later. We'll have a staff meeting on Friday before the weekend, and we'll tell them then to break the news. Break the spell. Well, you could be stuck in the middle of a heat wave at the moment. So there's a spell of really hot weather. But then it's announced that there's going to be a big, big thunderstorm on Tuesday. That will break the spell of hot weather that we've had and a bit of light relief and the temperature should drop, a bit of fresh air. So everybody will be feeling a little happier and a little bit more comfortable to break the spell. Oh, somebody is very, very close to a friend, but they have a sort of bad influence on them. And you'd really like to break that spell. You'd really like something to happen. So you say, oh, I wish that girl would get transferred to another school. Or I wish really David would go and find another course, try and break the spell that he's under with that girl. She's not really a good influence on him at all. Something has to be done to break that spell, to break that control that she has over him. Break your heart. Well, lots of things will break your heart. Yeah, things, you had your son or daughter break up with their first boyfriend or girlfriend. That'll break your heart. It'll certainly break their hearts. Okay. Having to move home after being there for so many years will break your heart. Retiring from your job might break your heart. Unfortunately, with the sad passing of your favourite dog or cat, that will very definitely break your heart. Break the rules? Well, we've all broken the rules at some time, particularly when we talk about the rules of the road. Who hasn't driven faster than the speed limit? Who has parked in an illegal parking zone? Who has parked somewhere on the chance that they don't put money into the meter or pay for it? So we've all at some stage broken the rules, particularly the rules of the road. And hopefully we haven't been caught. Or if you're unfortunate like me and you get a letter in the post and there's a photograph of your car registration and you was photographed driving at 60 or 70 kilometers on a Sunday morning when there was nobody else around and yeah, you were going a little bit too fast and you had to pay the penalty to break the rules. Break the silence. Well, again, a bit like breaking the news, somebody has to break the silence. You come home from school or work or something and when you walk into the room, there's an atmosphere. People are not talking to each other because something has been said, something has been done. So you say, okay, what is it? What happened? And there's a silence in the room. So somebody has to break the silence. Okay, somebody better tell me what's going on, who did what? And then, of course, your partner tells you, well, the kids did this, the kids did that. Then the kids say, well, it wasn't my fault and blah, blah, blah. So eventually you break the silence. Somebody tells you everything that's going on and people get back to normal and are talking to each other. So when we break the silence, we break that sort of atmosphere that's around, particularly as a result of a misunderstanding or a family argument or row to break the silence. Break something in two. Well, the easiest thing to break in two is a borrow chocolate. Half for you, half for me. Broke the biscuit in two. You broke the workload in two, give half to one colleague and half to the other. Yeah, so we've got an assignment. I'm going to break it in two. Yeah, we'll do this half this week and the other half next week. So we look at the schedule. We look at the, what's needed. We've got to pack all these boxes. Okay, let's look. Let's break this in two. You take that from left to right. I'll take the others from right to left. So to break it in two so that everything is evenly divided and we achieve our objectives or achieve our goals to break in two means to divide. Break your back. Wow, this is a very common expression when somebody thinks they have worked really, really hard. You know, I broke my back getting that project done. I worked late at least three or four nights last week and a couple of nights this week. I got the project completed and I sent it to him. He didn't even acknowledge it. He didn't even tell me thank you. He didn't even say well done. I mean, that's the last time I'm going to break my back for him. Anything else he asked me for, yeah, I'll do it. But if he thinks I'm going to work late, pah, he's got another thing coming. I broke my back for that and it's the last time I do it. You could break your back digging the garden in early spring after a long, hard winter and the ground perhaps hasn't thawed as well as you thought. So it takes a little bit more effort and you end up with a few blisters on your hands. So you really physically broke your back digging that soil, turning that ground over, getting ready to plant the vegetables. Okay, so to break your back. To break someone's fall. Well, when you break someone's fall, you provide a sort of a cushion or literally so that when they fall, they don't hurt themselves. A few weeks ago, I was out with my grandkids and they love climbing as all young kids do. And the two of them were climbing up the tree and one of them slipped. Luckily, I happened to be standing near the tree and I was able to grab him to break his fall so he didn't literally break his arm or his worse still. Okay, so I was able to break his fall. When I used to ski, I skied very badly. If I felt I was going to fall, which was quite often, I'd roll on my side to break my fall so that it wouldn't damage my back or I could roll pretty quickly and not get injured. So to break your own fall. So a cushion will do it. So something that you can land softly. And then finally, we've got break the mold. We've got an expression in English, ah, they broke the mold when they made him. It really refers to somebody who's a little bit special, a little bit unusual, or very different from everybody else. You know, he's the funniest guy I've ever met. He's always got stories, always got anecdotes. He's nothing like anybody else I know. They broke the mold when they made him. He's really, really special. Or somebody who's really, really helpful. Nothing is any trouble for them. If you want some help, then he'll give it to you. If you want a lend of money, he'll give it to you. If you want somebody to help you move the furniture, he'll help you. They broke the mold when they made him. He's really quite a unique person. So to break the mold. Okay, so there are the expressions and idioms using break. So they're advanced English, so you won't need to use them all. Perhaps you won't understand them all, but you can try them. Break the habit. Break the bank. Break even. To break fresh ground. Break the ice. Break the news. Break the spell. Break your heart. Break the rules. Break the silence. Break into. Break your back. Break yours or someone's fall. And then finally, break the mold. Break the mold. Okay, so I really, really appreciate you joining in, listening and watching. As always, if you need me, you can contact me on www.englishlessenvicecupe.com. Very happy to hear from you and always happy to help. Thanks for listening. This is Harry saying goodbye. Join me again soon.