break the deadlock
break the deadlock verb: to score the first goal or point in a competition.
Verb
break the deadlock (third-person singular simple present breaks the deadlock, present participle breaking the deadlock, simple past broke the deadlock, past participle broken the deadlock)
- To score the first goal or point in a competition.
- The Gunners continued to press after the break but it was Leeds who broke the deadlock in the 54th minute. There was no doubt about the penalty either, with Denilson clumsily fouling Gradel and Snodgrass stepping up to find the bottom corner of the net.2011 January 8, Chris Bevan, “Arsenal 1 - 1 Leeds”, in BBC
- Sterling was once again England's key figure, as he was in the Euros, scoring the goal that broke the deadlock before setting up the second for Kane.2021 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Hungary 0-4 England”, in BBC
Forms of break the deadlock
| third-person singular present | breaks the deadlock |
|---|---|
| present participle | breaking the deadlock |
| past | broke the deadlock |
| past participle | broken the deadlock |
Questions about break the deadlock
- What does break the deadlock mean?
- Break the deadlock means to score the first goal or point in a competition.
- What part of speech is break the deadlock?
- Break the deadlock is a verb.
- What is the past tense of break the deadlock?
- The past tense of break the deadlock is broke the deadlock.
Words near break the deadlock in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: break the deadlock (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-break the deadlock.ogg.
Cite this entry: “break the deadlock.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/break_the_deadlock. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.