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Glite Dictionary
🎤 To start performing 🏃 To start moving
to break into

to break into

50 4.0
Suddenly start making a sound, like singing, laughing or crying
  • phrasal verb
  • /breɪk ˈɪntu/
translation icon : romper a
  • " Now, is this bad?" she asked, and suddenly broke into a giggle.

And I just broke into tears, just broke down crying my eyes out in the middle of this visiting room.

Examples

  • Her face first registers shock, then instantly breaks into a welcoming smile.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • We're breaking into our regularly scheduled programming to bring you... this continuing weather update.

    A Thousand Acres (1997)

  • I mean, I nearly broke into tears.

    Yellow Yellow Yellow: The Indycar Safety Team (2017)

  • "My agent has always supported trying to break into new markets and finding new readers," Bear says.

    Academic text (2010)

  • I swear I thought Tiger was going to break into tears during that last round at Torrey Pines.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • The room explodes, victorious. Kenny and Bobby break into big grins and grab each other.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Elvis laughs and breaks into a run, barreling down on them like a maniac.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Hank's eyes flash and his thin lips break into a smile as his nervousness disappears.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • His thin face was expressionless for a blink, then it broke into an expansive, blissful smile.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • As she heard the sad news, she suddenly broke into tears in front of everyone.

Synonyms

to let out
vsto break into
50 3.1

Make a sound like a laugh, cry, or sigh

is a sudden beginning of expression, not just any audible utterance
to burst
vsto break into
42 1.8

Suddenly let out strong feelings or sounds

is about suddenly starting an expression or performance rather than release
to burst into tears
vsto break into
24 2.4

To suddenly cry because of a strong feeling

is broader, covering sudden starts of many expressions not only crying
to burst out
vsto break into
9 3.3

Suddenly say something or make a loud sound

is a sudden start of expressing or performing broadly, not only speech
to pipe up
vsto break into
  • Informal
6.1

To start to play music or sing suddenly

is the general sudden start of any expression, not only musical acts

Antonyms

stop
310 1.0

An act when something ends or pauses

to be quiet
231 1.0

To stop making noise or talking

How Sudden

to break into
50 4.0
to start
∞ 1.0
to begin
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

break + into

The sense 'suddenly begin doing something' is partly recoverable because 'into' marks change of state and 'break' can imply leaving one state for another, so a learner could infer starting a new action (e.g., moving into a run). However, the suddenness and conventional pairing with activities (break into a run/laugh/song) is somewhat metaphorical and not fully predictable from the individual words, so learners often need prior exposure.

Etymology

The phrasal verb break into (as in break into song or break into laughter) comes from the simple image of someone 'breaking' silence and letting sound pour out, like opening a closed door so music or laughter flows out. That's why it means 'to suddenly begin to sing, laugh, or cry'.