Word.ws English Dictionary

break-bulk

break-bulk adjective: of cargo: heterogeneous in size, shape, and handling requirements; neither bulk nor containerized.

Adjective

break-bulk (not comparable)

  1. Of cargo: heterogeneous in size, shape, and handling requirements; neither bulk nor containerized.
    • Break-bulk cargo is characterized by its multiplicity and diversity. […] In break-bulk service, a cargo ship might carry barrels of cooking oil, ... cartons..., bales ..., bags ..., and so on.2006, Brian J. Cudahy, Box Boats: How Container Ships Changed the World, page 9

Noun

break-bulk (plural break-bulks)

  1. A ship that carries cargo in miscellaneous small containers.

Forms of break-bulk

pluralbreak-bulks

Questions about break-bulk

What does break-bulk mean?
Break-bulk means of cargo: heterogeneous in size, shape, and handling requirements; neither bulk nor containerized.
What part of speech is break-bulk?
Break-bulk can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near break-bulk in the dictionary

  1. break-ax
  2. break-axe
  3. break-axes
  4. break-bones
  5. break-building
  6. break-bulk
  7. break-bulks
  8. break-dance
  9. break-danced
  10. break-dancer
  11. break-dancers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: break-bulk (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “break-bulk.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/break-bulk. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.