An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'break out', with lots of examples in context
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Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs!
'Break out' is a common phrasal verb and one that many of you may already be familiar with if you have been learning English for a while. Are you familiar with all of its different meanings and uses though? Did you know, for example, that it can be used to talk about subjects as diverse as prison, skin conditions and celebrations? Don't worry if you didn't as in this post I will explain all of the different meanings of 'break out' and will give you lots of examples to show how it is used by native speakers. So, without further ado, let's make a start. Don't forget to leave a comment at the end with your own comments featuring 'break out' 😊
BREAK OUT: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 4 |
Past tense forms | Broke out / Broken out |
Separable? | Rarely |
MEANINGSÂ (Click to jump to each one)
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THE BASICS
To start our exploration of the phrasal verb 'break out', let's first take a look at the words 'break' and 'out' and what they mean as individual words.
The verb 'to break' is a common English verb, which is primarily used to mean 'to damage something and stop it from functioning'. Additionally to this, it's other less frequently used meanings include 'to end something', 'to interrupt something' and 'to become known'.
John broke the window when he kicked the football at it.
I've broken my arm and I can't play tennis today.
This is very fragile, so please be careful with it and don't break it.
It is an irregular verb and is often used to form phrasal verbs, such as 'break out', 'break down' (link here) and 'break up' (link here).
The prepositional particle 'out' is one that is regularly found in phrasal verb constructions and therefore features a lot on this website. 'Out' is the natural opposite of 'in' and is perhaps most frequently used to talk about being in or moving towards an external space. As with most prepositions in English, 'out' has a multitude of different meanings and uses that are too numerous to cover here, however you should note that when used in phrasal verbs, 'out' can often bring the ideas of revelation, appearance, distribution and removal to the table.
So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'break out'....
MEANING 1: To escape
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CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To escape, to bust out, to get out, to flee, to abscond |
Separable? | Sometimes |
Let's begin with our first meaning of 'break out', which is 'to escape' and is primarily used when talking about prison, jail or captivity of some sort. This action is typically done in a defiant or forceful way, which is also inherent in the meaning of the verb 'to escape'.
I think that after considering the meanings of the individual words 'break' and 'out' in the previous section, this meaning will hopefully be a logical one for you to understand. We have the idea of someone (normally a prisoner) who is inside a prison cell or enclosed space and, like most people, wants to be free. In order to get out of their cell and achieve this freedom, they will need to break something e.g. a window or metal bars In some cases, especially in more historical ones, this was possible to do, and this is likely how we arrived at this meaning. However, most modern prison cells are designed to be quite indestructible and physically destroying them to achieve this goal is not really a possibility. Nevertheless, 'break out' is still used to mean 'to escape from captivity' even if nothing is physically broken.
You should note that we can also use this application of 'break out' with pets, like rabbits or hamsters, which live in cages or in enclosed spaces, to describe when they escape the confines of their living area.
The prisoner broke out of his cell during the night and hasn't been seen since.
Several of the captives tried to break out last week but their plan was foiled when they were caught by the guards.
My pet rabbit managed to break out of his hutch this morning but luckily I found him happily chewing on grass on the lawn.
You may have noticed in the table above that I stated that this particular usage of 'break out' is separable. The reason for this is because in situations in which one person or group rescues somebody from captivity or helps them to escape in some way, the expression 'to break someone out' can be used. On a grammatical level, the prisoner is the direct object of the sentence and can either go between the words 'break' and 'out' or after them. Personally, I think that we have more of a tendency to use this in a separable way with the direct object (prisoner) going in the middle of the two words.
The gang members were able to break their leader out of jail without any of the guards noticing.
The animals rights activists snuck onto the farm and broke all the animals out overnight.
Lastly, it is also possible to use this application of 'break out' for situations in life in which we feel trapped or stuck. Maybe this could be something like a daily routine that is difficult to break or a relationship that someone wants to leave but cannot. 'Break out' can be used here to refer to the action of escaping these situations or changing the routine.
I just need to break out of my daily routine somehow and do something different.
Sarah finally broke out of her relationship with her ex-boyfriend a year ago.
MEANING 2: To start suddenly
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CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To start, to arise, to erupt, to happen, to begin |
Separable? | No |
We now move on to the second meaning of 'break out' that we will cover in this post and this one is 'to start suddenly'. I think that out of all of the meanings of 'break out' that we will cover in the post, this one is the most common, although this is not really a good thing as this usage is often used for negative and unpleasant things, as you will see.
Nouns that this is often used with....
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As you can see from the list above, this application of 'break out' is normally reserved for dangerous and undesirable actions or phenomena which start in a sudden or abrupt manner, often with no sign beforehand. We do not use this for everything that starts suddenly though, for example if you have a headache that started suddenly, you would not say that a headache has broken out (however we do use it for other types of health issues, as I will explain later).
The children managed to cross the border just as the war was breaking out in their homeland.
A fire broke out in the government building and caused a lot of damage.
Fighting broke out amongst the football fans of rival teams.
Another noun that you commonly hear with this application of 'break out' is disease and this is specifically in reference to infectious diseases and epidemics. If a disease breaks out, then a large number of people are infected by it, who then spread it to other people (we are all very familiar with this scenario). This can be either on a localised scale or a global one, but tends to be used more in the former to describe when a disease spreads quickly in a community, town, city, region or country.
A virus has broken out at the city's hospital and visitors are being advised to stay away.
The Spanish flu pandemic broke out in 1918 shortly after the ending of the First World War.
This application of 'break out' is not all bad though and it can also be used to express when we start doing something suddenly in an unplanned or unexpected way, normally as an emotional response to something. Most commonly, this is heard with the words 'laughing' or 'crying', especially when they start very unexpectedly.
The whole class broke out laughing when the teacher fell over.
Roger broke out crying when he watched his daughter get married.
Lastly, there is one happy and positive usage that I want to end this section with, which is 'to break out in song' (or the alternative 'break out into song'). We use this particular expression to describe when one person or group of people suddenly starts singing, often in an unplanned manner.
The wedding guests broke out in song to wish the bride and groom a wonderful life together.
Watch the moment when a group of train passengers break out into song in the middle of their journey to Liverpool.
We also have the less common alternative 'to break out in dance', which is when a person or group of people start dancing in an impromptu fashion and this is something that you may have seen or heard on English language videos of people in flash mobs.
MEANING 3: To develop a skin condition
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CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To flare up, to come out in |
Separable? | No |
In the previous section, I explained how 'break out' is not used to describe sudden headaches or pains but is used to talk about infectious diseases and this next meaning is staying with the theme of health. This time, it is quite specific though as it means 'to develop a visible skin condition'. For this application, we require the additional preposition 'in' to specify the type of condition that is visible on our skin.
To be more specific, where I have stated 'skin condition', what I actually mean here is a rash, which is defined as an area of the skin that becomes inflamed due to an allergy or adverse reaction and normally is visible as spots or one large red or discoloured area. Moreover, it is also possible to use it with acne (typical for teenagers) and hives.
If you break out in a rash, red spots suddenly appear on your skin. This is often caused by heat, a disease, or a reaction to something, such as skincare products.
I had a sore throat and a headache and I broke out in a rash all over my stomach and legs.
Julie broke out in hives after stroking the cat.
It is very common for teenagers to break out in acne but it is usually only temporary and lasts for a year or two.
In some cases, you also hear people using 'break out' without the additional preposition 'in' or the name of the condition. This is absolutely fine to do, provided that there is enough context. For example, if you say that "something makes you break out" or "you broke out", the listener will likely understand that you are referring to a rash on your skin.
This type of make-up always makes me break out, so I've stopped using it.
Why is my skin breaking out all of a sudden?
One other bodily reaction, also to do with the skin, that we can use 'break out' with here is 'to break out in a sweat'. This is used to refer to when you suddenly start sweating and can be for any reason.
When some people get nervous, they break out in a sweat and start shaking.
I broke out in a sweat in bed last night.
MEANING 4: To take something from storage and start using it
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CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To get out, to take out, to remove |
Separable? | Yes |
I know that all of the meanings of 'break out' that we have covered up until now have been mainly negative and unpleasant, so let's end the post with a more neutral, or even positive one. This fourth and final meaning is 'to take something from storage and start using it' and is very informal.
The most commonly used noun with this particular application is 'champagne' and people use the expression 'to break out the champagne' when there is a reason to celebrate something and therefore they take a bottle (or two) out from storage in order to drink it as part of the celebrations.
Aside from champagne, you can hear this in conjunction with anything that is taken from a place of storage in order to be eaten, drunk or used. Equally, if you want to show somebody something, particularly a skill that you have, you could use 'break out' here too, with the idea that the skill is stored somewhere deep in your brain and not on show all of the time.
My parents are so happy that I passed my driving test that they have broken out the champagne!
Come on, break out the chocolate, I am so hungry.
In an attempt to impress the girl, Kevin broke out some French phrases, however his attempts did not work.
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BONUS: The Noun 'Breakout'
Before I finish the post, I want to mention the noun 'breakout' (alternatively break-out) and the different meanings that it has. As you can imagine, some of its meanings are linked directly to the phrasal verb meanings but not all of them....
An escape from prison or captivity
The prisoners were planning a breakout from the county jail.
Quick or sudden success, normally used to describe companies or famous people who become famous very quickly. This is more American in usage than British.
This album proved to be the singer's breakout album.
A room in a business or an organisation where people can go to discuss things away from their other colleagues. This is often known as a breakout room.
Let's go and discuss this in the breakout room.
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