break the silence
break the silence verb: to start talking in a conversation after a period where nobody speaks.
Verb
break the silence (third-person singular simple present breaks the silence, present participle breaking the silence, simple past broke the silence, past participle broken the silence)
- To start talking in a conversation after a period where nobody speaks.
- Both men waited for the captain to make a decision. Finally, Dean broke the silence. “We need to know what to do, Captain! Before we sink!”
- Words, like violence, / Break the silence / Come crashing in, / Into my little world1990, Depeche Mode, “Enjoy the Silence”, in Violator
- To state an opinion on a subject that has been taboo for a period of time.
- The Free Tibet campaign is calling on world leaders to break the silence, claiming they "continue to refrain from publicly speaking out for Tibet".2012 June 19, Julian Baggini, “Why it's not the Dalai Lama's job to break the silence on Tibet”, in The Guardian
Forms of break the silence
| third-person singular present | breaks the silence |
|---|---|
| present participle | breaking the silence |
| past | broke the silence |
| past participle | broken the silence |
Questions about break the silence
- What does break the silence mean?
- Break the silence means to start talking in a conversation after a period where nobody speaks.
- What part of speech is break the silence?
- Break the silence is a verb.
- What is the past tense of break the silence?
- The past tense of break the silence is broke the silence.
Words near break the silence in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: break the silence (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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