Break out or breakout?
break out is a verb meaning “To escape, especially forcefully or defiantly”; breakout is a noun meaning “An escape from prison”. Use break out as a verb and breakout as a noun. break out is written as two words and breakout as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between break out and breakout?
| break out | breakout | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb | noun, adjective |
| Meaning | To escape, especially forcefully or defiantly To rescue someone or aid their escape as in sense 1 | An escape from prison An escape from any restrictive or confining situation Of a book, film, or other work: leading its author to sudden mainstream success |
| Example | They broke out of prison in the middle of the night | breakout box; breakout cable |
| Forms | none | breakouts |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | not recorded |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 3.1 times per million words |
Sources: break out and breakout in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of break out and breakout
break out
- 1
To escape, especially forcefully or defiantly
They broke out of prison in the middle of the night
- 2
To rescue someone or aid their escape as in sense 1
After Big Tony was sent to prison, his friends got together to break him out
- 3
To bring out from storage, use, or present
Break out the bubbly and celebrate
- 4
To separate (something) from a bundle
Break out the cables from the harness once they are inside the frame
- 5
To take or force out by breaking
to break out a pane of glass
- 6
To begin suddenly; to emerge in a certain condition
He broke out in sweat
- 7
To suddenly get pimples or a rash, especially on one's face
break out in hives
- 8
(Of a record, film, product, or company): to achieve widespread success
It wasn't until later that her album broke out and she hit the big time
breakout
- 1
An escape from prison
- 2
Of a book, film, or other work: leading its author to sudden mainstream success
- 3
An escape from any restrictive or confining situation
- 4
Splitting a signal into several signals
breakout box; breakout cable
- 5
The point at which visibility returns after passing through clouds
- 6
An outbreak (sudden eruption of disease etc.)
- 7
A breakdown of statistics; a detailed view of component parts
- 8
A room in a hotel etc. that can be taken by a smaller group at a large conference
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, break out or breakout?
break out is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; breakout 3.1 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search break out vs breakout?
“break out vs breakout” is searched about 30 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“breakout vs break out”, “break out or breakout”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.