clean break
12
3.9
- noun
- Informal
:
ruptura definitiva
- After years of conflict, they decided to make a clean break from their toxic relationship.
Now, this means making a clean break from this person for a period of time.
- Now, this means making a clean break from this person for a period of time.
- So I'm genuinely confused why he hasn't made a clean break yet.
- Now, some scholars have heralded this biosocial moment as a clean break from the past schism between biology and society.
- If you want to make a clean break for your own well-being because it doesn't feel good or safe or that there's any point to it, you have that right.
Examples
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Now, this means making a clean break from this person for a period of time.
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I liked Cathy, but sometimes these things don't work out, and a clean break is usually the best.
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I thought we agreed on a clean break, right?
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Oh, I guess... if it's a clean break.
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Sometimes you should just make a clean break
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I want a clean break.
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Now I can make a clean break and not look back.
Blog text (16) -
He wants a clean break, a red sports convertible, a blonde girlfriend, and an amicable divorce.
Fiction book (1998) -
I've since torn up and thrown out both the school notebook and personal maroon one, and made a clean break from Dylan.
Academic text (2015) -
In the first days of his campaign, when he had expected nomination by acclamation, Kennedy proclaimed a "clean break with the New Deal and even with the Sixties."
Academic text (1997)
Synonyms
107
3.4
The end of a relationship, often between romantic partners or groups
89
3.4
An ending of a relationship or cooperation after disagreement
21
4.1
A chance to start again without being blamed for past mistakes
5
5.0
An act of leaving a group suddenly to be on your own
5
4.7
A sudden end of an activity, relationship, or talk
An ending of a relationship or agreement, often sudden
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'clean' (without complication, complete) modifies 'break' (an ending or separation), so the combined meaning of a complete, uncomplicated separation follows from the constituents. This adjective+noun pattern is common and cross-linguistically recognizable, so a B1 learner who knows both words would very likely infer the intended sense.
Etymology
Clean break may come from doctors: a clean break is when a bone snaps in one clear place with no splinters. That strong image of a simple, complete split explains why the phrase means 'a complete separation' or 'a fresh start'.