Word.ws English Dictionary

broken ground

broken ground is the past participle of break ground.

Meaning of break ground

Verb

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

  1. (literally) To begin digging in the earth at the start of a new construction, or, originally, for cultivation.
    • They broke ground on the new library last month.
  2. (figuratively) To initiate a new venture, or to advance beyond previous achievements.
    • The invention breaks ground in its programming and its structure.
  3. To lift off the sea bottom when being weighed.
  4. To separate from the ground on takeoff; to become airborne.

Questions about broken ground

What is broken ground the past participle of?
Broken ground is the past participle of break ground.

Words near broken ground in the dictionary

  1. broken free
  2. broken from
  3. broken gates
  4. Broken Glass Republican
  5. Broken Glass Republicans
  6. broken ground
  7. Broken Head
  8. broken heart
  9. broken heart syndrome
  10. broken hearted
  11. broken hearts

Source and license

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

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