break the news
break the news verb: to inform someone of something first, usually used when it will be difficult to tell the person.
Verb
break the news (third-person singular simple present breaks the news, present participle breaking the news, simple past broke the news, past participle broken the news)
- To inform someone of something first, usually used when it will be difficult to tell the person.
- I didn't know how to break the news to her that her best friend had been in a car accident.
Forms of break the news
| third-person singular present | breaks the news |
|---|---|
| present participle | breaking the news |
| past | broke the news |
| past participle | broken the news |
| alternative form | break it |
| alternative form | break it to |
Questions about break the news
- What does break the news mean?
- Break the news means to inform someone of something first, usually used when it will be difficult to tell the person.
- What part of speech is break the news?
- Break the news is a verb.
- What is the past tense of break the news?
- The past tense of break the news is broke the news.
Words near break the news in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: break the news (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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