Meanings
present singular third person breaks loose · participle present breaking loose · past broke loose · participle past broken loose
- To escape; to free oneself.
On the Lincolnshire side of the Humber, the Pier Station at New Holland was put out of action when the ferry boat plying to and from Hull broke loose from its moorings.
1953 May, “British Railways and the January Floods”, in Railway Magazine, page 3011 more example
They stayed together during three dances, went out on to the terrace, explored wherever they were permitted to explore, paid two visits to the buffet, and enjoyed themselves much in the same way as if they had been school-children surreptitiously breaking loose from an assembly of grown-ups.
1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 9
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishbreken los
- Englishbreak loose
From Middle English breken los, breken lous, breken lowse, equivalent to break + loose.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Spanish soltarse, perder tracción
- soltarseto escape; to free oneself
- perder tracciónto lose traction
Cite this entry
break loose. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/break%20loose
“break loose.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/break%20loose. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “break loose,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/break%20loose.
Source: break loose on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.