phrasal verb / collocation · neutral
break a habit
UK/breɪk ə ˈhæbɪt/US/breɪk ə ˈhæbət/HAB·it
speakingtask2
to stop doing something that you have done regularly
Examples
“I decided to break the habit of checking my phone during meals.”
“Breaking a habit takes time and small, consistent steps.”
“He finally broke his smoking habit after joining a support group.”
Band 8 sentence
“Tackling procrastination meant systematically breaking habits of distraction and prioritising tasks each morning.”
Collocations
- break a bad habit
- break the habit of
Word family
break (v) verbhabit (n) nounhabitual (adj) adjective
Common mistakes
stop a habit→break a habit
to break habits→to break a habit
Say it for a higher band
5stop a habit→6give up a habit→7+break a habit
Synonyms
kick the habit
give up
Easily confused
break a habit vs kick the habit
“After months of effort she finally kicked the habit of smoking.”
Related words
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