THE ULTIMATE PHRASAL VERB BOOK - Noel's ESL eBook Library

was late for work because my car broke down.
This photocopier is a piece of junk — it breaks down every day.
broken-down part.adj. When something is old, in bad condition, or not functioning
properly, it is broken-down.
My car is a broken-down piece of junk.
breakdown n. A breakdown is a situation in which something mechanical has
broken down.
After that last breakdown, I decided it was time for a new car.
2. breakdown p.v. When an arrangement, agreement, negotiation, plan, or marriage
breaks down, one or more persons involved is not cooperating or participating
because of a disagreement or problem.
After he started drinking heavily, their marriage started to break down.
The peace negotiations broke down because neither side was willing to compromise.
breakdown n. A situation in which an arrangement, agreement, negotiation, plan, or
marriage has broken down is a breakdown.
Neither side would give an inch, and there was a breakdown in the negotiations.
3. breakdown p.v. When you break down, you lose self-control and become
emotionally or mentally confused.
When the judge sentenced Jones to life in prison, he broke down and begged for mercy.
Tom breaks down whenever he thinks of the tragedy.
breakdown n. A situation in which someone has broken down and is very upset or
confused is a breakdown.
Marvin had a complete mental breakdown and started to see invisible people.
4. break down p.v. When something decomposes or reduces to its smallest parts or is
reduced by someone to its smallest parts, it breaks down.
After the poison breaks down, it's quite harmless.
Anticoagulant drugs are used to break down blood clots.
5. break... down p.v. When you reduce a process, situation, problem, plan, or idea to
its basic parts to make it easier to understand, you break it down.
The professor's plan seemed really complicated, but after he broke it down for us, we understood it a little
better.
If you break the manufacturing process down into steps, it's easier to train new workers.
6. break ... down p.v. When you use force to go through a door that is locked, you
break it down.
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