Englishfor English speakers
break
Verb
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If you break something, you make it come apart in a way that cannot easily be put back together, usually by force.
He injured his leg and broke his arm during the crash.
When my brother died, my family broke apart.
The airplane broke apart in the sky over Hawai'i.
When the ice broke underneath me, I said to myself, I'm in trouble.
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If something such as a machine breaks, it stops working because something is wrong.
My car breaks down about once a week.
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If you break a law, rule, promise, etc. you do something that you should not do.
The police can't do anything if no laws are broken.
These are the rules. Don't break the rules and I won't send you home.
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If you break a surface, limit, record, etc., you go beyond it.
In 1954 he set a new record of 3:59.4, breaking the old record by more than five minutes.
Wilson broke barriers for women in journalism at a time when newsrooms were mostly male.
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If you break free or out of something, you could not leave but now you leave.
The police are looking for some prisoners who broke out of the jail.
One of the dogs broke loose and ran at her.
When she closed the door, everyone broke into laughter.
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If you break, you stop for a short time to rest.
We break for coffee at 10:00 every morning.
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If day or morning breaks, it begins.
The day was breaking as they packed up the tent.
Dawn was just breaking when Helga Schneider climbed out of bed.
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If you break something, you stop it suddenly.
The sound of the door closing broke the silence.
I didn't know my father, but with my son, I want to break that cycle of fathers leaving their sons.
The show had been so magical that people didn't want to leave the theater, didn't want to break the spell.
Smoking is such a hard habit to break.
Mike had to leave to break up a fight between Ronni and Bridget.
The rain finally broke on Monday evening.
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If news breaks, it becomes known.
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If your voice breaks, it changes because you are almost crying.
"I wanted to say goodbye before he died", she said, her voice breaking.
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If you break some money, you change a note into coins.
I don't want to break a twenty just to buy matches.
break
Noun
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A break is a time when something stops before starting again.
We get a 15-minute break in the middle of the morning.
I'll phone you during my lunch break.
We're going to take a one-minute commercial break and we'll be right back.
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A break (up) is an end of a relationship.
We didn't see each other for years after the break up.
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A break is a space between something continuous.
The sun shone through a break in the clouds.
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A break is a situation in which things are not as difficult.
That job opening up just when she finished school was a lucky break for her.
Give me a break.
The new law would give middle-income families a $2,000 tax break.
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A break is a place where something is broken.
The break in his leg could be seen clearly on the x-ray.
switch
Verb
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If you switch something, you change it to something else.
He switched his book with mine.
We switched to a cheaper brand of coffee.
When they didn't seem to understand, he switched to French.
Jump ten times, switch legs and repeat.
I just switched jobs, and at my new job I don't have insurance.
When his team was losing, he switched sides.
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If you switch a light or machine on, you change something so that it has power and can work.
She sat up in bed and switched on the light.
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If you switch a light or machine off, you change something so that it doesn't have power and can't work.
I switched off the computer and went to bed.
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If you switch over to something, you change to it, often with no plan to change back to the first thing.
We used to watch CNN, but we've switched over to BBC World News.
It was difficult when I switched over from writing to acting.
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If you switch gears, you change the way you think or act to match a particular situation.
When I come home from work, it takes me a while to switch gears.
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If you switch with somebody, you do something that they usually do and they do the thing that you usually do.
Sibyl couldn't work on Tuesday, so I switched with her.
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If you switch a machine to a particular setting or function, you set it to work that way.
She switched the TV to another channel.
She switched the plane to automatic pilot.
switch
Noun
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A switch is what you use to turn lights or other machines and equipment on and off.
The light switch is on the wall behind the door.
Where's the on/off switch on this printer?
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A switch is a change from one thing to another.
It's often difficult for older people to make the switch to living alone.
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A switch is a place on the track where trains can chose between two tracks.
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A switch is a networking device that connects networks together by sending data (packets) only to the devices that need them.
Switches are more efficient than hubs because they understand which device needs the data that other devices send them.
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A switch is a thin stick.