Word.ws English Dictionary

break containment

break containment verb: of a post or piece of media, to be shown to a larger audience than originally intended; typically either to a non-fandom community or to an outside platform.

Verb

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

  1. (social media) Of a post or piece of media, to be shown to a larger audience than originally intended; typically either to a non-fandom community or to an outside platform.
    • This meme broke containment when it was posted to Reddit.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see break, containment.

Forms of break containment

third-person singular presentbreaks containment
present participlebreaking containment
pastbroke containment
past participlebroken containment

Origin of break containment

Originated in this sense the microblogging and social media platform Tumblr. Derived from the title of the horror video game SCP – Containment Breach, set inside a facility in which paranormal entities have escaped containment.

Questions about break containment

What does break containment mean?
Break containment means of a post or piece of media, to be shown to a larger audience than originally intended; typically either to a non-fandom community or to an outside platform.
What part of speech is break containment?
Break containment is a verb.
What is the past tense of break containment?
The past tense of break containment is broke containment.

Words near break containment in the dictionary

  1. break bulk
  2. break camp
  3. break character
  4. break clause
  5. break clauses
  6. break containment
  7. break cover
  8. break dance
  9. break danced
  10. break dancer
  11. break dancers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: break containment (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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Cite this entry: “break containment.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/break_containment. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.