Word.ws English Dictionary

broke out

broke out is the simple past of break out.

Meaning of break out

Verb

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

  1. (intransitive) To escape, especially forcefully or defiantly.
    • They broke out of prison in the middle of the night.
    Synonyms:
    bust out
  2. (transitive) To rescue someone or aid their escape as in sense 1.
    • After Big Tony was sent to prison, his friends got together to break him out.
    Synonyms:
    bust out
  3. (idiomatic, transitive) To bring out from storage, use, or present.
    • Break out the bubbly and celebrate.
    Synonyms:
    bust out
  4. (transitive) To separate (something) from a bundle.
    • Break out the cables from the harness once they are inside the frame.
    Synonyms:
    sunder out
  5. (transitive) To take or force out by breaking.
    • to break out a pane of glass
  6. (intransitive) To begin suddenly; to emerge in a certain condition.
    • He broke out in sweat.

See all 9 meanings of break out

Questions about broke out

What is broke out the simple past of?
Broke out is the simple past of break out.

Words near broke out in the dictionary

  1. broke one's neck
  2. broke one's promise
  3. broke one's stride
  4. broke one's word
  5. broke open
  6. broke out
  7. broke ranks
  8. broke rigor
  9. broke shins
  10. broke someone's back
  11. broke someone's balls

Source and license

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