break down

verb

1. make ineffective; “Martin Luther King tried to break down racial discrimination”

   Synonyms

   • crush

   Less specific

   • change, alter, modify

2. make a mathematical, chemical, or grammatical analysis of; break down into components or essential features; “analyze a specimen”; “analyze a sentence”; “analyze a chemical compound”

   Synonyms

   • analyze, analyse, dissect, take apart

   Antonym

   • synthesize, synthesise

   More specific

   • parse, botanize, botanise

3. lose control of one’s emotions; “When she heard that she had not passed the exam, she lost it completely”; “When her baby died, she snapped”

   Synonyms

   • lose it, snap

   Less specific

   • act, behave, do

   More specific

   • dissolve, die, fall apart, go to pieces

4. stop operating or functioning; “The engine finally went”; “The car died on the road”; “The bus we travelled in broke down on the way to town”; “The coffee maker broke”; “The engine failed on the way to town”; “her eyesight went after the accident”

   Synonyms

   • fail, go bad, give way, die, give out, conk out, go, break

   Less specific

   • change

   More specific

   • crash, go down, blow out, burn out, blow, misfire, malfunction, misfunction

5. fall apart; “the building crumbled after the explosion”; “Negotiations broke down”

   Synonyms

   • crumble, crumple, tumble, collapse

   Less specific

   • change integrity

6. cause to fall or collapse

   Less specific

   • break, bust

7. separate (substances) into constituent elements or parts

   Synonyms

   • decompose, break up

   Less specific

   • separate

   More specific

   • digest, dissociate, crack

8. collapse due to fatigue, an illness, or a sudden attack

   Synonyms

   • collapse

   Less specific

   • suffer, sustain, have, get

   More specific

   • drop like flies, fall over, go over