breakdown

[ breyk-doun ]

noun

1. a breaking down, wearing out, or sudden loss of ability to function efficiently, as of a machine.
2. a loss of mental or physical health; collapse. Compare nervous breakdown.
3. an analysis or classification of something; division into parts, categories, processes, etc.
4. Chemistry.
   1. decomposition.
   2. analysis ( def 6 ).
5. Electricity. an electric discharge passing through faulty insulation or other material used to separate circuits or passing between electrodes in a vacuum or gas-filled tube.
6. a noisy, lively folk dance.

Word History and Origins

Origin of breakdown¹

First recorded in 1825–35; noun use of verb phrase break down

Example Sentences

That will get you more granular information about your fitness data—including more detailed breakdowns of how it arrived at your stress score.

From Popular-Science

Healthcare systems could get overloaded, tooOn top of a breakdown of the testing systems, there’s a serious concern that an influx of people with severe influenza could push healthcare systems over the edge too.

From Popular-Science

The randomness of such a process would be able to account for the breakdown of homogeneity and isotropy in the early universe, without having to invoke any observer or measuring device.

From Nautilus

In our conversation, Topol explained what we can and can’t expect from vaccines, what the communication breakdown over the pandemic has meant, and, surprisingly, why we can look on the bright side.

From Nautilus

Smaller DNA segments are assumed to represent older instances of mating across populations than longer segments due to the breakdown of shared segments in later generations.

From Science News

The breakdown of the 114th Congress is 80 percent white, 80 percent male, and 92 percent Christian.

From The Daily Beast

Truth be told, there is no one better at capturing the agony and alarm of a woman in the throes of a nervous breakdown than Moore.

From The Daily Beast

No other neighborhood in Rome has the same demographic breakdown.

From The Daily Beast

She remembers, of course, being tantalized by the tantalizing opening breakdown scene.

From The Daily Beast

So definitely in that breakdown I used every bit of my personal life.

From The Daily Beast

Assuredly, this was an occasion when the sacrifice of a few minutes might avoid the grave risk of a breakdown after daybreak.

From Project Gutenberg

A coward by nature, he had been on the verge of a nervous breakdown before the trial, thinking of what might happen.

From Project Gutenberg

He had been ailing for several weeks; as his son had remarked, his handwriting had been the first symptom of the breakdown.

From Project Gutenberg

It was a complete breakdown, pitiful from its contrast with the man's herculean physique and fine, if contracted, features.

From Project Gutenberg

This alternative arrangement was a stand-by in case of breakdown of the steam pipes to these engines.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• disintegration
• disruption
• failure
• mishap
• nervous breakdown