Word.ws English Dictionary

break it down

break it down verb: to dance, especially in a hip hop style.

Verb

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

  1. (US, slang) To dance, especially in a hip hop style.
    • […] Renee Victor breaking it down on the dance floor beneath a hanging decoration that looked like a bunch of enormous joints.2006, “The Hollywood reporter, Volume 395”, in Hollywood Reporter Inc., page 16
    • Actually, the stain wasn't even very noticeable while we were breaking it down on the dance floor.2010, Christine Mills, Mahler Mills Christy Mahler Mills, No Regrets, iUniverse, p. 119

Forms of break it down

third-person singular presentbreaks it down
present participlebreaking it down
pastbroke it down
past participlebroken it down

Questions about break it down

What does break it down mean?
Break it down means to dance, especially in a hip hop style.
What part of speech is break it down?
Break it down is a verb.
What is the past tense of break it down?
The past tense of break it down is broke it down.

Words near break it down in the dictionary

  1. break ground
  2. break in
  3. break into
  4. break into a run
  5. break it
  6. break it down
  7. break it to
  8. break junction
  9. break junctions
  10. break loose
  11. break luck

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: break it down (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 it down.ogg.

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