to change (as a secret message) from code into ordinary language
Alan Turing and the Bletchley Park mathematicians broke the Enigma code being used by the Nazis
a momentary halt in an activity
there was a brief break after the first movement as the doors to the concert hall were opened and the latecomers were allowed in
a favorable combination of circumstances, time, and place
in classic fashion, her big break came when, as an understudy, she took over for an ailing star
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Recent Examples of break
Verb
Sign up for for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.—Danielle Bacher, People.com, 16 May 2025 But Sentry breaks free from her control and then, fueled by Bob's repressed emotions, transforms into a shadowy figure called The Void, putting New York City and our heroes in dire straits.—Brian Truitt, USA Today, 4 May 2025
Noun
Snag a stay here for an epic Paris stay or visit the garden for an afternoon break from it all.
L’Aventure
4 Av.—Melinda Sheckells, HollywoodReporter, 16 May 2025 Returning from the break, Granite Hills took control, outscoring Saints 4-1 in the third quarter.—Clark Fahrenthold, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for break
An estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the proposals would reduce the number of people with health care by at least 7.6 million from the Medicaid changes, and possibly more with other changes to the Affordable Care Act.
—
Kevin Freking,
Chicago Tribune,
16 May 2025
Another question has to do with the probiotics themselves: Can all probiotic supplements reduce negative feelings, or is there something specific about these nine bacteria included in the study?
Instead of administrators spending countless hours deciphering page after page of information and increasing risk of errors being made, AI agents are powering document capture for a better, more efficient way to work.
—
Navaneeth Nair,
Forbes.com,
19 May 2025
In early May, the Vesuvius Challenge announced that contestants Marcel Roth and Micha Nowak, computer scientists at Germany’s University of Würzburg, would receive $60,000 for deciphering the title.
The common element is that a single federal judge in one of 94 regional districts paused a policy for the entire country while the case is being litigated.
—
Bart Jansen,
USA Today,
18 May 2025
Getty Images The Trump administration’s trade truce with China that paused the steepest tariffs on Chinese goods isn’t offering much of a reprieve to many importers.
Investigators arriving at a bizarre scene where a car plowed through a house found a 19-year-old driver with a gunshot wound to the chest and a bicyclist dead under the car, Florida authorities said.
—
Olivia Lloyd,
Miami Herald,
13 May 2025
Meanwhile, a lower mass object, likely a star, is orbiting very close to the black hole and periodically plows through the accretion disk.
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