1
as in invading
to enter a house or building by force usually with illegal intent
the burglars broke in by smashing a window
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in interrupting
to cause a disruption in a conversation or discussion
he rudely broke in to drop the names of several celebrities that he had met
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of breaking in
And also, at the exact same moment, your heart is breaking in half because one day, lots of days, actually, your child is going to go out and enjoy that absolutely beautiful, mind-blowing, magical world.
—
Heidi Stevens, Chicago Tribune, 15 Aug. 2025
Heidi Stevens, Chicago Tribune, 15 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for breaking in
Verb
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That’s why his firm offers privacy-first, non-intrusive monitoring — no screenshots, no keystroke logging — using only numerical signals to reveal productivity trends without invading personal privacy.—
Kolawole Samuel Adebayo,
Forbes.com,
8 Sep. 2025
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Channeling history, Putin has staked a key part of his pretext for invading Ukraine on the claim that neo-Nazi ideology was gaining ground in the neighboring state also viewed as the next potential frontier for NATO expansion.—
Tom O'Connor,
MSNBC Newsweek,
7 Sep. 2025
Verb
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It is written in an almost stream-of-consciousness style, rather like someone reluctantly dredging up their memories, with random thoughts interrupting the narrative, long sentences sometimes running to over a page, little punctuation, and peppered with Kobe dialect.—
Ginny Tapley Takemori
September 4,
Literary Hub,
4 Sep. 2025
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Despite commercial breaks potentially not interrupting big plays in the endzone, fans are not happy.—
James Brizuela,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Caroline conveniently grows a conscience right around the time when the couple starts robbing banks in earnest.—
Vikram Murthi,
IndieWire,
6 Sep. 2025
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Drummond has served prison time for robbing a convenience store and threatening to go after jurors.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
6 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Breaking in.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/breaking%20in. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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