break the mold

idiom

1

: to do something in a completely new way

Voters are looking for a candidate who will break the mold and give them honest answers.

2

informal

—used to describe a very unusual or admired person

He was the greatest man I ever knew. They broke the mold when they made that guy.

Examples of break the mold in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Montez is among the few fictional presidents to break the mold of Black men and white women. —Peter Kastor, The Conversation, 13 Aug. 2024

This mission is designed to break the mold; unlike previous peacekeeping missions in Haiti, the MSS is independent of the United Nations. —Caitlin Stephen Hu, CNN, 10 Aug. 2024

So, Enola decides to break the mold and outsmart her brothers by finding her mother herself. —Madeline Cisneros, EW.com, 8 Aug. 2024

These are the disruptive entrepreneurs: those who break the mold and forge new paths. —Chris Gallagher, USA TODAY, 25 June 2024

By refusing to let conventional restrictions box him in, Wilson has helped to break the mold of what the modern sports star can be. —Okla Jones, Essence, 10 Apr. 2024

But for Perkins, Black Barbie was the mold to break the mold. —Elise Preston, CBS News, 22 Feb. 2024

Amidst an oversaturated market of celebrity endorsements and collaborations, Minaj’s ventures continue to break the mold, proving that her Midas touch remains unmatched and irresistibly exciting to consumers. —Kate Hardcastle, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024

The idea, Cui said, is to break the mold of drug design, building new molecules from scratch that could be less susceptible to cancer cells developing resistance. —Damian Garde Reprints, STAT, 29 Feb. 2024