to break loose

Examples

• All

• All hell must be breaking loose up there.

  The Abyss (1989)

• Dad, all hell broke loose back in town.

  One-Eyed Jacks (1961)

• All hell is going to break loose tomorrow.

• About that time, all hell broke loose.

  UFOs: The Secret History (2010)

• All hell has broken loose!

  The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

• We kids had gone to bed, and some to sleep, when all hell broke loose down in the kitchen.

  Academic text (2009)

• So when we had the incident at the Main Street bar, all hell broke loose.

  Academic text (1997)

• Well, all hell broke loose at school the next day.

  Fiction book (1992)

• And all hell broke loose this week on the Western Front as the Germans tried to smash the enemy once and for all.

• When the protestors pushed against the barriers, all hell broke loose as chaos erupted in the streets.

Synonyms

G

to get away

vsto break loose

165 3.0

To escape from people who are holding you, often by force

is sudden uncontrolled freeing with force noise or violence rather than secret escape

R

to run away

vsto break loose

93 1.1

To become difficult to control or stop, for example prices

is sudden and often noisy or violent rather than planned escape

B

to break out

vsto break loose

51 3.6

To get free quickly from a place or situation, often from captivity

is about becoming uncontrollable with force or noise rather than only escaping

C

to cut loose

vsto break loose

• Informal

18 4.4

To have fun and act without control, or to remove someone from their job

is sudden uncontrolled escape with force or noise rather than voluntary release

B

to break free from

vsto break loose

11 4.1

To escape limits or control and become independent

is sudden and often violent loss of control rather than gradual independence

B

to break away

vsto break loose

5 3.6

To escape suddenly from control, capture, or a group

is about losing control violently or noisily rather than just leaving

K

to kick loose

vsto break loose

• Informal

8.1

To free yourself from a promise or duty that controls your life

involves sudden forceful separation with noise or loss of control

Antonyms

C

to control

∞ 2.4

To have power over people, things, or situations

C

to constrain

64 5.6

To limit what someone can do or how they can act

How Uncontrolled

to run riot

2 5.8

to break loose

23 3.8

to erupt

123 4.2

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology