Word.ws English Dictionary

breakdancing

breakdancing noun: an urban style of acrobatic street dance that originated in the hip hop culture of New York City in the late 20th century.

Noun

breakdancing (uncountable)

  1. An urban style of acrobatic street dance that originated in the hip hop culture of New York City in the late 20th century.
    • Hollywood made movies about breakdancing, dancers performed at the White House and the sky seemed the limit.1998 July 6, Lola Ogunnaike, “NOTICED; Breakdancing Regains Its Footing”, in The New York Times

Synonyms of breakdancing

Forms of breakdancing

alternative formbreak dancing
alternative formbreak-dancing

Origin of breakdancing

From break + dancing. Influenced by breakdown (the percussion break of songs chosen by a DJ for use in hip-hop music) -- breakdancers were originally those who danced to a breakdown.

Questions about breakdancing

What does breakdancing mean?
Breakdancing means an urban style of acrobatic street dance that originated in the hip hop culture of New York City in the late 20th century.
What part of speech is breakdancing?
Breakdancing is a noun.

Words near breakdancing in the dictionary

  1. breakdance
  2. breakdanced
  3. breakdancer
  4. breakdancers
  5. breakdances
  6. breakdancing
  7. breakdown
  8. breakdown crane
  9. breakdown cranes
  10. breakdown lane
  11. breakdown lanes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: breakdancing (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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Cite this entry: “breakdancing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/breakdancing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.