Word.ws English Dictionary

broken off

broken off is the past participle of break off.

Meaning of break off

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To remove a piece from a whole by breaking or snapping.
    • She unwrapped the slab of chocolate and broke off a piece.
  2. (intransitive) To become detached by breaking or snapping.
    • A chunk of rock broke off from the cliff face.
  3. (transitive) To discontinue abruptly.
    • Both families want the lovers to break off any relationship they may have.
  4. (intransitive) To end abruptly, either temporarily or permanently.
    • Our school doesn't break off until July.
  5. (ambitransitive) To play the first shot in a frame of snooker, billiards or pool.
    • Ted's opening line, when Steve broke off for the deciding frame, was, 'Last night we put our clocks back one hour. These two stars turned theirs back to April.'2017, John Virgo, Say Goodnight, JV - My Autobiography, John Blake Publishing, →ISBN
  6. (slang, transitive, African-American Vernacular) To give (someone) (something); to allow (someone) to take (something); to grant (someone) a share or portion of (something).
    • If you help, I'll break you off a piece of the proceeds.

Questions about broken off

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

Words near broken off in the dictionary

  1. broken luck
  2. broken man
  3. broken men
  4. broken number
  5. broken numbers
  6. broken off
  7. broken on
  8. broken on the wheel
  9. broken one off
  10. broken one's ass
  11. broken one's back

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: broken off (page history and authors); break off (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 off.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/broken_off. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.