break down

verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"break-down" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“break down” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To stop functioning.

Corpus desk

Index EN-break-down · break down · English

break down · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "B" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for break down
PropertyValue
Headwordbreak down
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “break down” sits in English frequency

break downfalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

break down is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 12 senses are on record.

break down doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is break down, spelled B-R-E-A-K- -D-O-W-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    To stop functioning.
  2. 2
    To unexpectedly collapse, physically or in structure.
  3. 3
    To intentionally demolish; to pull down.
  4. 4
    To fail, especially socially or for political reasons.
  5. 5
    To give in or give up: relent, concede, surrender.
  6. 6
    To render or to become unstable due to stress, to collapse physically or mentally.
  7. 7
    To render or to become weak and ineffective.
  8. 8
    To (cause to) decay, to decompose.
  9. 9
    To separate into a number of parts.
  10. 10
    To divide into parts to give more details, to provide a more indepth analysis of.
  11. 11
    To digest.
  12. 12
    Bust down or bust a move; the act of performing energetic, often freestyle or hip-hop moves, frequently during a song’s instrumental break where only drums or bass are playing.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how break down appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. I am afraid my computer will break down if I try to run it at too high a speed.
  2. "We love our little diesel trains. They potter up and down. They break down. The C6 overhaul is only a temporary answer. By the time they are replaced, they will be 45 years old.

This word in other languages

descomponerse(Español)tomber en panne(Français)versagen(Deutsch)cessar(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "break down"?
"break down" is spelled B-R-E-A-K- -D-O-W-N.
What does "break down" mean?
As a verb, "break down" means: To stop functioning.
What language does "break down" come from?
"break down" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

What to do next

You've looked up "break down". Here's where to go from here.

  • Browse more English words in the "B" letter cohort. B–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list