The Phrasal Verb 'Break In' Explained
- 1 day ago
- 9 min read
An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'break in' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context
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This article is all about the English phrasal verb 'break in'. We can use 'break in' in a number of different ways in English and these include to talk about things like crime, interruption, training and shoes. In this post, I will explain all four of its different meanings in clear and understandable English for you and will provide you with lots of example sentences in context for each meaning to help you use it more naturally and confidently. So, let's make a start and find out exactly what the phrasal verb 'break in' means....
QUICK ANSWER: What does the phrasal verb 'break in' mean?The phrasal verb 'break in' has four main meanings....
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TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one)
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THE BASICS
BREAK IN: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 4 |
Past tense forms | Broke in / Broken in |
Separable? | Sometimes |
In order to fully understand the phrasal verb 'break in', we should first of all consider its individual component words 'break' and 'in' and what they mean on their own.
Break - 'To break' is a common irregular verb in English. It is often used in negative and problematic situations as its main meanings are 'to stop functioning properly', 'to damage or destroy' or a combination of both of these. In addition to this, we can also use the verb 'to break' to mean 'to end' and 'to interrupt' among other meanings.
John broke his arm when he fell from a tree.
The printer is broken. Jessica broke it when she spilled coffee on it.
Be careful with this ornament as it is fragile and could break easily.
Alex broke the silence in the room when he laughed.
Let's break now and resume the lesson later.
In - The prepositional particle 'in' is one that you will know very well already. We can use it in phrasal verb constructions to add the idea of a movement from the outside of something to the inside (go in, get in). Moreover, it can also add the ideas of arrival (come in), participation (join in), submission (hand in) and confinement (lock in), among others.
So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'break in'....
MEANING 1: To enter somewhere by force
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To breach, to intrude, to trespass, to burglarise, to raid |
Separable? | No |
We are going to start the meanings of the phrasal verb 'break in' with the most negative of its four meanings, which is 'to enter somewhere by force'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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This first application of 'break in' is probably the most commonly used one and is primarily used to talk about criminal activity when a person enters a building using force; either to steal what is inside it or to look for something (as commonly seen in movies and on TV). When we use 'break in' it doesn't always mean that force was involved, but rather that the person entered illegally or when they were not supposed to.
Someone broke in during the night and stole several laptops.
The burglars broke in through a ground-floor window.
We were on holiday when thieves broke in and ransacked our house.
A masked man tried to break in but he couldn't get past the security door.
The police arrived just as the intruders were breaking in.
BREAK IN OR BREAK INTO?
You may have noticed in the example sentences above that none of them explicitly state the building or place where the unwanted visitors entered. If you want to do this, you simply need to change the particle from 'in' to 'into'.....
Someone broke into our house while we were away on holiday.
The burglars broke into the shop through a side window.
Thieves broke into the animal enclosure overnight to try and steal them.
A masked man attempted to break into the bank but was caught by security guards.
The police were called after someone broke into a local business.
I have only mentioned so far that we use 'break into' with buildings and while we most commonly use this application for them, we can also use it for other things like cars and vehicles as well as non-physical things like computer systems that have an element of security to stop anybody accessing what it inside.
Someone broke into my car and stole my satnav.
Thieves broke into several vans parked outside the hotel.
Hackers broke into the company's computer system and stole customer data.
Someone broke into my locker at the gym and stole my wallet.
The ex-employee broke into the electricity control box and tampered with the wiring.
On a grammatical level, we cannot separate this application of 'break in'. Often, native speakers will use it in the passive voice with the verb 'to get' (get / be broken into), particularly because often victims of this type of crime do not usually know who committed it.
Some shops get broken into during the holiday season every year.
Our house has been broken into twice this year.
My car was broken into last night.
The museum was broken into during the weekend.
BONUS: The noun 'break-in'
As is common with many phrasal verbs, there are often nouns that are derived from them to define the particular action that the phrasal verb describes and 'break in' is no different in this respect. The noun 'break-in' is used as a name for the specific type of crime when a criminal enters somewhere by force.
There was a break-in at the local jewellery shop last night.
The police are investigating a break-in at a nearby office building.
After the break-in, the family decided to install a security system.
MEANING 2: To train someone for something
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To train, to prepare, to get someone used to, to condition, to acclimatise |
Separable? | Yes |
The second of the applications of the phrasal verb 'break in' is a much more pleasant one that means 'to prepare someone for something' and is one that is heard particularly often in workplaces.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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Starting a new job can be a difficult experience; there are new colleagues to meet, new systems to use, lots of new information to learn and new activities to carry out. As such, it can often take new employees several months to be able to do a job competently and without help from colleagues. We can often use the phrasal verb 'break someone in' these situations to describe when existing employees train or teach new employees and show them how to do a new job or role.
To put this another way, 'to break someone in' means to prepare and train someone for a new job or activity that they will have to do. As I mentioned before, this is mainly in the workplace but it could potentially be used for any activity where someone is given help to adjust to a new environment or to get used to doing something difficult or demanding.
As you may have already guessed, this application of 'break in' is separable and the name of the person undergoing the training or preparation can either go between 'break' and 'in' or after them.
It took a few weeks to break the new employee in.
Sarah is breaking in her replacement before she leaves the company.
The senior nurse spent several days breaking the new staff members in.
The coach used easier training sessions to break the younger players in.
Life in the army quickly broke Jim in.
The internship helped break students in before they started full-time work.
By the end of the month, Sandra had been fully broken in and was working independently.
Young players are often broken in slowly to help them adjust to professional football.
MEANING 3: To prepare something for use
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To train, to prepare |
Separable? | Yes |
The next application of the phrasal verb 'break in' that we will look at is one is similar to the previous one but it involves objects (and horses) rather than people and means 'to prepare something for use'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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Like most people, I enjoy the feeling of having new shoes to wear but one thing that I do not like about this is how painful they can be when I first start wearing them. It normally takes several attempts at wearing them for increasingly longer periods of time before they no longer hurt to walk in. To describe this period of adjustment and preparation for use, we can use this third application of 'break in'.
Just as we were looking at preparing people or employees to do a job in the previous application, in this one we are instead preparing things to be used for a specific purpose.
Perhaps the most common noun that we use this with across the English speaking world is 'shoes' but it can also be used with any equipment or items that need a period of preparation or use in order to become fully functional.
I need to break in these new shoes before the wedding.
Kathy spent a week breaking in her hiking boots before the trek.
The goalkeeper is still breaking in his new gloves.
The saddle needs to be broken in before it becomes comfortable.
This sofa will become more comfortable once it's been broken in.
One surprising inclusion on the list of nouns that are commonly used with this application is 'horses'. Obviously, horses do not really count as equipment, however they have been used to carry out work for people for an estimated 5000 years and of course they will all need a certain amount of training and work before they can be used for riding or pulling vehicles etc.
It takes patience and skill to break in a young horse.
The trainer spent several months breaking the horse in.
Kate is currently breaking in two horses for competition.
Young horses are usually broken in gradually.
The trainer is taking things slowly to avoid frightening the horse while breaking it in.
There are also some other nouns that are used with this meaning of 'break in' in specific English speaking countries, rather than across the English-speaking world: 🇺🇸 In American English, it is common to talk about breaking a new car or vehicle in, meaning to use it slowly and carefully at first to avoid damaging the engine. Be careful not to confuse this meaning with 'to break into a car' from the first application. 🇦🇺 🇳🇿 In Australian and New Zealand English 'break in' is used to talk about preparing previously uncultivated ground in order to grow crops on it. |
MEANING 4: To interrupt something
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Rare |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To interrupt |
Separable? | No |
The fourth and final of our applications of the phrasal verb 'break in' means 'to interrupt something' and can be used to talk about both conversations and activities.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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We use this application most frequently when talking about conversations. To clarify, if someone stops a conversation that is already in progress in order to join it, we can say that they "broke in". Moreover, we can also use this for anything that can be interrupted by a person speaking or another sound, such as a breaking news bulletin interrupting a TV programme or radio show.
Before I could finish my explanation, Tom broke in with a question.
Lesley broke in to correct a mistake.
Whenever someone tells a story, Shane always breaks in.
The teacher broke in before the argument became too heated.
The music was suddenly interrupted as a news bulletin broke in.
For this meaning, we require the additional preposition 'on' to specify what was interrupted....
I'm sorry to break in on your conversation, but I need to ask a question.
Marie broke in on the meeting with an urgent announcement.
I hate to break in on your speech, but there's a phone call for you.
The emergency alarm broke in on the ceremony.
The announcer broke in on the concert to make a safety announcement.
We have now reached the end of this post and I hope that you have found it useful and that it has helped you to understand how to use the phrasal verb 'break in' more confidently and naturally.
Feel free to leave any comments, feedback or your own sentences using 'break in' in the section below. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media.
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Thanks so much for reading and see you next time! James 😊
THE END
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