To break down is to stop working suddenly. Cars do it, and so do people.
The vehicle sense is the commonest, and breaking down on the motorway is what breakdown cover exists for. The human sense is heavier, since somebody who breaks down has been overwhelmed, either into tears or into a mental health crisis. There are two useful others: negotiations break down when they fail, and breaking down a problem means dividing it into parts, which is the only helpful sense of the four.
1phrasebreak downOf a machine or vehicle, to stop working.
“The van will break down again before the winter.”
2phraseseparateTo separate something into smaller parts.
“Let us break down the cost line by line.”
breakdown Deverbal from break down. a deverbal from break down.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Phrasal Verbs, A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 30 of A Man Called Ove.
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