Word.ws English Dictionary

break the fourth wall

break the fourth wall verb: to apparently communicate with reality directly, such as when characters of literature comment on the existence of a reader.

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To apparently communicate with reality directly, such as when characters of literature comment on the existence of a reader.

Forms of break the fourth wall

third-person singular presentbreaks the fourth wall
present participlebreaking the fourth wall
pastbroke the fourth wall
past participlebroken the fourth wall

Origin of break the fourth wall

break + the + fourth wall

Questions about break the fourth wall

What does break the fourth wall mean?
Break the fourth wall means to apparently communicate with reality directly, such as when characters of literature comment on the existence of a reader.
What part of speech is break the fourth wall?
Break the fourth wall is a verb.
What is the past tense of break the fourth wall?
The past tense of break the fourth wall is broke the fourth wall.

Words near break the fourth wall in the dictionary

  1. break the back of
  2. break the bank
  3. break the buck
  4. break the cycle
  5. break the deadlock
  6. break the fourth wall
  7. break the ice
  8. break the internet
  9. break the internets
  10. break the interwebs
  11. break the mold

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: break the fourth wall (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 the fourth wall.ogg.

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