to break ground
25
4.1
- phrasal verb
- /breɪk ɡraʊnd/
:
iniciar las obras
- In fact, Masada Resources Group plans to break ground on the first MSW-to-ethanol facility in upstate New York in 2002.
- break new ground
Like Nikola still hasn't broken ground on their factory.
- Like Nikola still hasn't broken ground on their factory.
- I think we'd made we, we, I think we broke some new ground, though.
- But scientists and engineers are still pushing boundaries, breaking new ground, and making cool stuff happen in computing.
- And I said that because Gigafactory Austin is barely breaking ground.
- It's our job as employers to encourage you to do that, to encourage you to break new ground, to, to think of, think out-of-the-box.
- By the time we broke ground, Michael, we were so sure of what we were doing that we did not think we were flying without a net or being a huge risk taker.
- So they were getting these tracks for these compilations almost before they'd even broke ground in our own system in the UK system like charting.
Examples
-
And once they give it the okay, we break ground at the end of the month.
-
Nygma says he plans to break ground on an electronics plant.
Fiction book (1995) -
When do we break ground on the new building?
-
I break ground in two weeks.
-
We were planning to break ground in the northeast corner tomorrow.
Fiction book (1998) -
Gulf Coast will soon be breaking ground on this facility.
-
Just over a year ago, he helped break ground for the TMG Health building.
Blog text (10) -
Employees are set to go to Nicaragua and help break ground on the school in March 2013.
Blog text (30) -
That was land developer Theodore Hollandaise speaking today from the future site of the Very Venice Housing Project, set to break ground later this year.
-
We're excited to announce that we will break ground on the new community center next month.
Synonyms
95
4.2
To start a new project, activity or journey that is often big and difficult
38
4.2
Start a project or business successfully so it begins to work
34
3.9
To make things ready so something can succeed
Antonyms
How Started
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal sense—to physically break the soil to begin building—is directly inferable from 'break' (damage/separate) + 'ground' (soil), so learners who know both words can readily guess the construction meaning. However, the extended figurative use ('to start an important undertaking') is a metaphorical extension and not fully predictable without exposure, so overall the expression is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Break ground comes from the literal act of using a shovel to break the ground and start building on a new site. Because people dig the earth to begin a project, the phrase now means 'to begin work' or 'to start an important project'.