Word.ws English Dictionary

break a sweat

break a sweat verb: to start sweating, especially due to physical exertion.

Verb

break a sweat (third-person singular simple present breaks a sweat, present participle breaking a sweat, simple past broke a sweat, past participle broken a sweat)

  1. To start sweating, especially due to physical exertion.
    • Are you feeling stronger and more energetic, and even—dare I say it—breaking a sweat? No, not a pink-faced, dripping sweat; nevertheless, a little dewy under the arms and around your forehead.2001, Karon Karter, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Pilates Method, →ISBN, page 119
    • The work was hard enough that he broke a sweat.
  2. (idiomatic) To put effort into something; to struggle.
    • He always succeeds effortlessly and never breaks a sweat.
    • She didn't miss a line in the shower, getting through the performance without breaking a sweat.

break a sweat meaning in Bengali and Vietnamese

break a sweat in Bengali

to put effort into something
মাথার ঘাম পায়ে ফেলা mathar gham paẏe phela

break a sweat in Vietnamese

to start sweating
đổ mồ hôi
to put effort into something
đổ mồ hôi

Forms of break a sweat

third-person singular presentbreaks a sweat
present participlebreaking a sweat
pastbroke a sweat
past participlebroken a sweat

Questions about break a sweat

What does break a sweat mean?
Break a sweat means to start sweating, especially due to physical exertion.
What is break a sweat in Bengali?
Break a sweat in Bengali is মাথার ঘাম পায়ে ফেলা (mathar gham paẏe phela). See Break a sweat meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is break a sweat?
Break a sweat is a verb.
What is the past tense of break a sweat?
The past tense of break a sweat is broke a sweat.

Words near break a sweat in the dictionary

  1. break a fly upon a wheel
  2. break a fly upon the wheel
  3. break a lance
  4. break a leg
  5. break a promise
  6. break a sweat
  7. break and enter
  8. break and enters
  9. break and entry
  10. break apart
  11. break ass

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: break a sweat (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-break a sweat.ogg.

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