Word.ws English Dictionary

broke the silence

broke the silence is the simple past of break the silence.

Meaning of break the silence

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)

  1. 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!”
  2. 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

Questions about broke the silence

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

Words near broke the silence in the dictionary

  1. broke the mold
  2. broke the mould
  3. broke the news
  4. broke the Sabbath
  5. broke the seal
  6. broke the silence
  7. broke the story
  8. broke the web
  9. broke the wheel
  10. broke through
  11. broke up

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: broke the silence (page history and authors); 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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