Word.ws English Dictionary

breaking into

breaking into is the present participle and gerund of break into.

Meaning of break into

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To enter illegally or by force, especially in order to commit a crime.
    • Somebody broke into his car and stole his tools and CDs.
  2. (idiomatic, transitive) To open or begin to use.
    • I finally broke into the second package of cookies.
  3. (idiomatic, transitive) To successfully enter a profession or business.
    • He hopes to break into show business.
  4. (transitive) To begin suddenly.
    • The horse broke into a gallop as they neared the barn.

Questions about breaking into

What is breaking into the present participle and gerund of?
Breaking into is the present participle and gerund of break into.

Words near breaking into in the dictionary

  1. breaking free
  2. breaking from
  3. breaking gates
  4. breaking ground
  5. breaking in
  6. breaking into
  7. breaking into a run
  8. breaking it
  9. breaking it down
  10. breaking it to
  11. breaking loose

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: breaking into (page history and authors); break into (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: “breaking into.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/breaking_into. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.