break out
No objectThis verb takes no object at all.
How to say it
Stress the particle, not the verb: break OUT. Saying “BREAK out” is the clearest learner tell — the verb stays light and the particle carries the beat.
Link across the gap. The final /k/ of “break” moves onto the particle and starts its syllable: “break out” is said “brea-kout”. Pausing between the words is what makes phrasal verbs sound recited rather than spoken.
Verb vs noun
As a noun the stress flips to the front: the verb is break OUT, the noun is BREAKOUT. Same two words, different beat — “to break OUT” is the action, “a breakout” is the thing. Getting this backwards makes the sentence land oddly even when every sound is right.
3 meanings
- 1
To escape from a place of confinement.
- “Three prisoners broke out of the facility overnight.”
- “He dreamed of breaking out and starting again somewhere new.”
Similar: escape
- 2
(Of something unpleasant) to begin suddenly.
- “War broke out in the spring of that year.”
- “A fire broke out in the kitchen just after closing.”
Similar: erupt, flare up
- 3
To develop a skin rash or spots.
- “I break out whenever I eat too much dairy.”