Search Result for "break down":
Wordnet 3.0

VERB (8)

1. make ineffective;
- Example: "Martin Luther King tried to break down racial discrimination"
[syn: break down, crush]

2. make a mathematical, chemical, or grammatical analysis of; break down into components or essential features;
- Example: "analyze a specimen"
- Example: "analyze a sentence"
- Example: "analyze a chemical compound"
[syn: analyze, analyse, break down, dissect, take apart]

3. lose control of one's emotions;
- Example: "When she heard that she had not passed the exam, she lost it completely"
- Example: "When her baby died, she snapped"
[syn: break down, lose it, snap]

4. stop operating or functioning;
- Example: "The engine finally went"
- Example: "The car died on the road"
- Example: "The bus we travelled in broke down on the way to town"
- Example: "The coffee maker broke"
- Example: "The engine failed on the way to town"
- Example: "her eyesight went after the accident"
[syn: fail, go bad, give way, die, give out, conk out, go, break, break down]

5. fall apart;
- Example: "the building crumbled after the explosion"
- Example: "Negotiations broke down"
[syn: crumble, crumple, tumble, break down, collapse]

6. cause to fall or collapse;

7. separate (substances) into constituent elements or parts;
[syn: decompose, break up, break down]

8. collapse due to fatigue, an illness, or a sudden attack;
[syn: break down, collapse]



WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

break down
    v 1: make ineffective; "Martin Luther King tried to break down
         racial discrimination" [syn: break down, crush]
    2: make a mathematical, chemical, or grammatical analysis of;
       break down into components or essential features; "analyze a
       specimen"; "analyze a sentence"; "analyze a chemical
       compound" [syn: analyze, analyse, break down,
       dissect, take apart] [ant: synthesise, synthesize]
    3: lose control of one's emotions; "When she heard that she had
       not passed the exam, she lost it completely"; "When her baby
       died, she snapped" [syn: break down, lose it, snap]
    4: stop operating or functioning; "The engine finally went";
       "The car died on the road"; "The bus we travelled in broke
       down on the way to town"; "The coffee maker broke"; "The
       engine failed on the way to town"; "her eyesight went after
       the accident" [syn: fail, go bad, give way, die,
       give out, conk out, go, break, break down]
    5: fall apart; "the building crumbled after the explosion";
       "Negotiations broke down" [syn: crumble, crumple,
       tumble, break down, collapse]
    6: cause to fall or collapse
    7: separate (substances) into constituent elements or parts
       [syn: decompose, break up, break down]
    8: collapse due to fatigue, an illness, or a sudden attack [syn:
       break down, collapse]


Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

162 Moby Thesaurus words for "break down":
   afflict, aggrieve, alphabetize, analyze, anatomize, anguish,
   arrange, assay, assort, bawl, beat down, bend, blow, blow down,
   blubber, boohoo, break, break up, bring down, bring low,
   bring to tears, bring to terms, bulldoze, burn down, burn out,
   burst into tears, cast down, catalog, categorize, cave in,
   chop down, class, classify, codify, collapse, come to naught,
   come to nothing, conk out, conquer, crack up, crumble, crush, cry,
   cut down, cut up, decompose, desolate, digest, disintegrate,
   dissect, dissolve in tears, divide, draw tears, droop, drop,
   drop a tear, embitter, faint, fall down, fall flat, fall in,
   fall through, fatigue, fell, file, fizzle out, flag, flatten,
   founder, gasp, get bogged down, get hung up, get mired, get tired,
   give out, go haywire, go kaput, go wrong, grade, greet, grieve,
   group, grow weary, humble, humiliate, index, inundate, jade,
   knock down, knock over, level, list, master, molder, mow down,
   oppress, order, overmaster, overwhelm, pack up, pant, peg out,
   peter out, pigeonhole, place, play out, poop out, prostrate, puff,
   puff and blow, pull down, putrefy, quell, range, rank, rase, rate,
   raze, reduce, reduce to elements, resolve, rot, run down, run out,
   segment, separate, shed tears, sink, smash, snivel, sob, sorrow,
   sort, spoil, steamroller, subdivide, subdue, succumb, suppress,
   sway, tabulate, taint, take down, tear down, throw down, tire,
   topple, topple down, topple over, torment, totter,
   trample underfoot, tread underfoot, turn, type, tyrannize, unman,
   weary, weep, wheeze, whimper, wilt