break it to

verb

To deliver unfortunate or upsetting news to someone.

“Look, I hate to break it to you, but Tim doesn't want anything to do with you anymore.”

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Meanings

verbbreak it to (third-person singular simple present breaks it to, present participle breaking it to, simple past broke it to, past participle broken it to)

present singular third person breaks it to · participle present breaking it to · past broke it to · participle past broken it to · alternative break it · alternative break the news

  1. idiomaticTo deliver unfortunate or upsetting news to someone.

    Look, I hate to break it to you, but Tim doesn't want anything to do with you anymore.

    2 more examples

    Although I don't doubt that he'd have put much more faith in a local wizard if one had been available, he let us take the boy into the hospital tent and do what we could for him. It wasn't much, and I told my assistant to break it to poor old Calico that he must be prepared for the worst.

    1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC

    [Spoken by a shopkeeper] Hmmm... Hate to break this to you, but you don't have enough money.

    1995, HAL Laboratory, EarthBound, Nintendo, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Cite this entry
APA

break it to. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/break%20it%20to

MLA

“break it to.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/break%20it%20to. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “break it to,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/break%20it%20to.

Source: break it to on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.