phrasal verb · informal
break a sweat
/breɪk ə swet/break·a·SWEAT
speakingtask2
to produce sweat; often used (especially with negatives) to mean 'to make little or no effort'.
Examples
“He fixed the printer without breaking a sweat.”
“I won't even break a sweat carrying these light boxes.”
“Top students can write a quick summary without breaking a sweat.”
Band 8 sentence
“I can edit that short article for you without breaking a sweat, so send it over.”
Collocations
- without breaking a sweat
- won't break a sweat
- not even break a sweat
Word family
break a sweat verb phrasebroke a sweat verb phrase (past)breaking a sweat verb phrase (gerund)
Common mistakes
get a sweat→break a sweat
make a sweat→break a sweat
Say it for a higher band
5become sweaty→6get sweaty→7+break a sweat
Synonyms
work up a sweat
get sweaty
Easily confused
work up a sweat
“After ten minutes on the treadmill she had worked up a sweat.”
Related words
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In break …
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