Word.ws English Dictionary

broke new ground

broke new ground is the simple past of break new ground.

Meaning of break new ground

Verb

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

  1. (literally) To begin excavating and levelling earth for a new building, or, originally, for cultivation.
  2. (broadly) To initiate a new venture, especially something never before attempted; to advance or innovate.
    • One of the Birmingham R.C.W. diesel multiple-units on the Calder Valley service broke new ground on August 12 when it was enployed for a works excursion from Halifax to Windermere, [...].1962 October, “Motive Power Miscellany: London Midland Region: Central Lines”, in Modern Railways, page 280

Questions about broke new ground

What is broke new ground the simple past of?
Broke new ground is the simple past of break new ground.

Words near broke new ground in the dictionary

  1. broke it
  2. broke it down
  3. broke it to
  4. broke loose
  5. broke luck
  6. broke new ground
  7. broke off
  8. broke on
  9. broke on the wheel
  10. broke one off
  11. broke one's ass

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: broke new ground (page history and authors); break new ground (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “broke new ground.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/broke_new_ground. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.