Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🕵️ To enter illegally ✋ To interrupt 👟 To make comfortable 🚪 To start learning 🚨 To force open
to break in

to break in

11 3.4
To start working in a new job or field, often for the first time
  • phrasal verb
  • /breɪk ɪn/
translation icon : iniciarse en
  • I figured that since she'd left town, I'd have to break in, but I didn't know it'd be this easy.

Examples

  • So he said, I want to break in therapy for a little while.

  • Yeah, I'm just breaking in the new agent.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Do you have any idea how hard it is to break in a new act?

    Water for Elephants (2011)

  • If you want to break in, you got to network... ...and I know how to network.

    Mystery Men (1999)

  • Yes, I'm breaking in someone new.

    Scoop (2006)

  • Impatience is a common mistake of those trying to break in.

    Academic text (2008)

  • I'm actually excited at the prospect of the Mets finally attempting to break in their own major league closer.

    Blog text (9)

  • Jayne walks up the oil-blotted driveway to the back, resolved to break in.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • RAMSTEIN AIR BASE -- Joe D'Ambrosio is breaking in a rookie Friday night, a kid by the name of Jim Calhoun.

    Blog text (29)

  • If you want to break in as a musician, you need to perform at open mic nights.

Synonyms

to get into
vsto break in
769 3.1

Become involved in something, often without meaning to

usually involves starting a new role to gain experience rather than accidental involvement
to jump into
vsto break in
38 3.0

Start taking part in something quickly and with enthusiasm

focuses on beginning work to gain experience rather than quick enthusiasm
to break into
vsto break in
14 3.3

Suddenly start doing something, like running or dancing

is about entering a new role to gain experience, not sudden behavior change
to cut one's teeth
vsto break in
6.9

To gain first experience in a job or activity

applies to starting any new activity or role, not just early career
to sally into
vsto break in
8.4

To make a sudden, energetic start in a new activity

is used for starting work to gain experience rather than sudden energy

Antonyms

to leave
∞ 1.0

To go away from a place, person, or group

How Experienced

to break in
11 3.4
to start out
286 1.4
to try out
229 2.8

Surface Forms

break in infinitive
breaking in present participle
breaks in third person singular
broke in past
broken in past participle

Morphology

break + in

The meaning 'to forcefully enter by breaking a barrier' is directly and compositionally derived from 'break' (to damage or cause to separate) plus 'in' (into the interior); the particle adds the direction/result of entering. This verb+particle construction is a common, predictable pattern and a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the intended sense.

Etymology

The phrasal verb break in comes from the idea of forcing your way into a closed place, like opening a locked door to get inside. So it came to mean 'to start working in' a new job or field.