breakdown

What it means

1. countableA failure, particularly one which is mechanical in nature.

   Whenever he was behind the wheel, he would panic at the first sign of a breakdown.

   1 more example

   He declared that these drastic steps would undoubtedly inconvenience a good many people, but the alternative was bankruptcy of the Ulster Transport Authority and the breakdown of public transport services.

   1956 May, “Transport in Ulster”, in Railway Magazine, page 279

   1. uncountablenatural sciencesThe sudden (and usually damaging) transition of an electrical insulator to a conductor when subjected to a sufficiently strong voltage, caused by the partial or complete ionization of the insulator; (countable) an instance of this; also, the minimum voltage at which this occurs.
2. countableSomething, such as a vehicle, that has experienced a mechanical failure.

   We saw a breakdown by the side of the road.

In a sentence

Whenever he was behind the wheel, he would panic at the first sign of a breakdown.

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰreg-
2. Proto-Indo-European*bʰrégeti
3. Proto-Germanic*brekaną
4. Proto-West Germanic*brekan
5. Old Englishbrecan
6. Middle Englishbreken
7. Englishbreak
8. Old Englishof-
9. Proto-Germanic*dūnaz?
10. Proto-Indo-European*dewh₂-
11. Proto-Indo-European*duh₂-nós?
12. Proto-Celtic*dūnomder.?
13. Proto-West Germanic*dūnā
14. Old Englishdūne
15. Old Englishofdūne
16. Old Englishadūne
17. Old Englishdūne
18. Middle Englishdoun
19. Englishdown
20. Englishbreak downdeverb.
21. Englishbreakdown

Deverbal from break down.