Thesaurus results for BROKE OUT

broke out

verb

past tense of break out

as in erupted

to develop suddenly and violently in the wake of news reports of deaths from the flu, panic broke out, and there was a mad rush for flu shots

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of broke out Six people are hurt after a fire broke out at a Queens home early Wednesday morning, according to the FDNY. — Christina Fan, CBS News, 12 Aug. 2026 Elsewhere, Kyle Williams went deep again, a starting edge rusher finally popped and a small skirmish broke out on the Patriots sideline. — Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 11 Aug. 2026 The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have opened a criminal investigation into the cause of the fire, which broke out Friday. — ABC News, 11 Aug. 2026 How about this Kyle Busch helmet Ryan Blaney broke out this weekend? — Zach Dean Outkick, FOXNews.com, 10 Aug. 2026 Several large wildfires also broke out in the Pacific Northwest last month, continuing into August. — Denise Chow, NBC news, 10 Aug. 2026 Last month, OpenAI agents broke out of a training environment and hacked open-source software developer platform Hugging Face, raising concerns over the rapid evolution of powerful AI and cybersecurity tools. — Samantha Subin, CNBC, 3 Aug. 2026 Vorobyov said several fires broke out in an industrial zone in the Moscow region following a drone attack, damaging an electrical substation and an administrative building. — Kosta Gak, CNN Money, 3 Aug. 2026 My face broke out in butterfly rashes so often my camera roll turned into a swollen selfie archive. — Samantha Agate, Miami Herald, 3 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for broke out

Verb

After that, chaos erupted, with dozens of masked people swarming the business.

— Lesley Marin, CBS News, 18 Aug. 2026
One person was killed and two others critically injured when gunfire erupted outside a Utah church during a funeral, police said.

— Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 17 Aug. 2026

Definition of erupted

Verb

Taylor joined the Bravo series in its latest season, which later exploded into scandal and earned its first Emmy nomination in the outstanding unstructured reality program category.

— Mia Galuppo, HollywoodReporter, 11 Aug. 2026
In seconds, her neighbor's home across the street exploded and went up in flames.

— Sara Tenenbaum, CBS News, 11 Aug. 2026