breaking point
40
3.9
- noun
- /ˈbreɪkɪŋ pɔɪnt/
- After months of pressure at work, I finally reached my breaking point last week.
- reach the breaking point
- stretch to the breaking point
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Watch on YouTubeIt pushes geometrical reasoning to its very breaking point, literally.
- It pushes geometrical reasoning to its very breaking point, literally.
- And when I did that and I was nearing up a breaking point, things started coming.
- Yeah, it did get to a point where it got physical and that was a breaking point.
- And so you cannot, you cannot stretch fairness and believe that there's no breaking point.
- And I've seen first hand how how it can can break, take a family to breaking point.
- Also honestly did not take it super seriously until I had just hit my breaking point.
- I would argue that there is a greater chance of her reaching a breaking point to where she simply can't take it anymore.
Examples
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We're beyond the breaking point.
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My patience, however, is at its breaking point.
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No, you put them right up to the breaking point, then pull them back.
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What was the breaking point and what was the plan?
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Find your breaking point before you are broken.
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My breaking point happened this afternoon... when I picked up my kids from day care.
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My nerves are at the breaking point.
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The war has pushed parts of the U.S. armed forces close to the breaking point.
Academic text (2007) -
By the middle of her eighth-grade year, the tension had reached a breaking point.
Academic text (2013) -
He's close to the breaking point, and that's dangerous for all of us.
Synonyms
47
5.3
A moment when a small event causes a big, lasting change
20
3.9
The final small problem that makes someone lose patience and act
9
4.4
A moment when anger or stress becomes so strong that someone shows it
Antonyms
How Pressured
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'moment when someone or something can no longer handle stress' is partly derivable from combining 'breaking' (the act of breaking) with 'point' (a stage or moment) — it literally denotes the stage when breaking occurs. However, the transfer from a physical breaking event to a psychological threshold is a metaphorical extension that may not be fully predictable to a B1 learner without prior exposure, even though many languages use similar metaphors.
Etymology
Breaking point comes from the image of a stick, rope, or bridge being pushed or pulled until it snaps at one exact point. So the phrase now means the moment someone or something 'cannot handle stress' and 'gives way'.