adj · noun · 17 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
/ˈbɹeɪkəweɪ/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
Australia:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:B R EY1 K AH0 W EY2
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
adj
Meaning 1
Having broken away from a larger unit.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
Examples
The breakaway republic is slowly establishing order and civil society.
1946, William Brown, Hansard, 19 November, 1946, Trade Unions Closed Shop, https://web.archive.org/web/20190212095659/https://www.hansard-corpus.org/ Nor is it true, although it has been suggested as true, that I am in favour of breakaway or splinter unions
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
adj
Meaning 2
Capable of breaking off without damaging the larger structure.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
Examples
a breakaway wall
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
adj
Meaning 3
Occurring during or as a result of a breakaway (see Noun)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
2016, Scott Feschuk, "Counting down the most annoying in video review, by sport," sportsnet.ca, 10 July, 2016, http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/counting-annoying-video-review-sport/ In a league starved for scoring, the challenge ensures that some super-sweet breakaway goals will be overturned because a dude was three microns offside.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
adj
Meaning 4
Enjoying rapid popular success.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
2016, Chris Riotta, "Rihanna's 'Anti' Has Extensive Alternative Music Career," mic.com, 11 February, 2016, https://mic.com/articles/134964/who-is-sza-artist-featured-on-rihanna-s-anti-has-extensive-alternative-music-career#.7Jn5cfh5u When Rihanna released her rebellious breakaway album Anti, it marked a definitive turning point in the singer's career.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
noun
Meaning 5
The act of breaking away from something.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
1932, Alan Lennox-Boyd, Hansard, 10 May, 1932, Finance Bill, https://web.archive.org/web/20190212095659/https://www.hansard-corpus.org/ [...] this Finance Bill represents a definite breakaway from the old practice of mass bribing, vote catching, and political Finance Bills which we were in grave danger of establishing as a permanent part of our national activities.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
6
noun
Meaning 6
A group of riders which has gone ahead of the peloton.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Qualifier: cycle racing
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
7
noun
Meaning 7
A situation in the game where one or more players of a team attack towards the goal of the other team without having any defenders in front of them.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
2015, Eric MacKenzie, "Canucks fall 2-1 to Oilers in OT," vancouver24hrs.ca, 18 October, 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20151020145050/http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2015/10/19/canucks-fall-2-1-to-oilers-in-ot With the game tied 1-1 early in the third, Henrik got free on a breakaway and was stopped by Oilers goalie Anders Nilsson [...]
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
8
noun
Meaning 8
The act of getting away from one's opponent; the separation of the boxers after a spell of infighting.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: boxing, government, hobbies, lifestyle, martial-arts, military, politics, sports, war
Examples
2011, Colleen Aycock and Mark Scott (eds.), The First Black Boxing Champions: Essays on Fighters of the 1800s to the 1920s, Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Appendix: The Great Fights, George Dixon vs. Jack Skelly (September 6, 1892), p. 262, The gong sounded almost immediately after the breakaway.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
9
noun
Meaning 9
A stampede of animals.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Australia
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
10
noun
Meaning 10
An animal that breaks away from a herd.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Australia
Examples
1893, The Argus, 29 April, 1893, p. 4, col. 4, cited in Edward Ellis Morris, Austral English: A Dictionary of Australasian Words, Phrases and Usages, 1898, http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks09/0900231.txt The smartest stock horse that ever brought his rider up within whip distance of a breakaway or dodged the horns of a sulky beast, took the chance.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
11
noun
Meaning 11
An eroding steep slope on the edge of a plateau; an escarpment.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Australia
Topics: geography, natural-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
12
noun
Meaning 12
A channel of floodwater that has burst from its usual course; or the track or channel eroded by the water.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Australia
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
13
noun
Meaning 13
A particular yo-yo trick http://yoyo.wikia.com/wiki/Breakaway.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
14
noun
Meaning 14
A swing dance in which the leader occasionally swings the follower out into an open position.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
15
noun
Meaning 15
An item of scenery designed to be broken or destroyed during the performance.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, theater
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
16
adjective satellite
Meaning 16
having separated or advocating separation from another entity or policy or attitude
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
a breakaway faction
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: fissiparous, separatist
Antonyms: none provided
17
noun
Meaning 17
the act of breaking away or withdrawing from
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
there was a breakaway by the discontented members
a breaking away from family and neighborhood
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: breaking away
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: secession, withdrawal
History
Etymology
From break + away, a deverbal from break away.
Across languages
Translations
43 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Azerbaijani:
birtərəfli şəkildə müstəqilliyini elan etmiş
— having broken away from a larger unit
Azerbaijani:
özünü müstəqil elan etmiş
— having broken away from a larger unit
Azerbaijani:
tərkibindən qopmuş
— having broken away from a larger unit
Azerbaijani:
tərkibindən çıxmış
— having broken away from a larger unit
Chinese Mandarin:
分裂的
(fēnliè de)
— having broken away from a larger unit
Finnish:
irtaantunut
— having broken away from a larger unit
Finnish:
irronnut
— having broken away from a larger unit
French:
dissident
— having broken away from a larger unit
German:
abtrünnig
— having broken away from a larger unit
German:
separatistisch
— having broken away from a larger unit
Polish:
oderwany
— having broken away from a larger unit
Russian:
отколо́вшийся
(otkolóvšijsja)
— having broken away from a larger unit
Russian:
отдели́вшийся
(otdelívšijsja)
— having broken away from a larger unit
Russian:
самопровозглашённый
(samoprovozglašónnyj)
— having broken away from a larger unit
Spanish:
separado
— having broken away from a larger unit
Spanish:
separatista
— having broken away from a larger unit
Swedish:
utbrytar-
— having broken away from a larger unit
German:
Lossagung
— act of breaking away from something
German:
Absplitterung
— act of breaking away from something
German:
Loslösung
— act of breaking away from something
German:
Ausbrechen
— act of breaking away from something
German:
Losmachung
— act of breaking away from something
Greek:
απόσχιση
(apóschisi)
— act of breaking away from something
