Word.ws English Dictionary

break one's neck

break one's neck verb: to make extraordinary efforts to achieve an end; to exert oneself in pursuit of a goal.

Verb

break one's neck (third-person singular simple present breaks one's neck, present participle breaking one's neck, simple past broke one's neck, past participle broken one's neck)

  1. (idiomatic) To make extraordinary efforts to achieve an end; to exert oneself in pursuit of a goal.
    Synonyms:
    break one's back, bust one's ass, work one's ass off
  2. To suffer a fracture of one or more of the cervical vertebrae, especially one that injures the spinal cord.

Synonyms of break one's neck

Forms of break one's neck

third-person singular presentbreaks one's neck
present participlebreaking one's neck
pastbroke one's neck
past participlebroken one's neck

Questions about break one's neck

What does break one's neck mean?
Break one's neck means to make extraordinary efforts to achieve an end; to exert oneself in pursuit of a goal.
What part of speech is break one's neck?
Break one's neck is a verb.
What is the past tense of break one's neck?
The past tense of break one's neck is broke one's neck.

Words near break one's neck in the dictionary

  1. break one's duck
  2. break one's fall
  3. break one's fast
  4. break one's lance
  5. break one's maiden
  6. break one's neck
  7. break one's promise
  8. break one's stride
  9. break one's word
  10. break open
  11. break out

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: break one's neck (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 one's neck.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/break_one%27s_neck. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.