phrasal verb · neutral
break in
/ˈbreɪk ɪn/BREAK·in
speaking
to interrupt someone speaking; to make shoes or clothing comfortable by wearing them; (less often) to force entry.
Examples
“He kept breaking in while I was answering the question.”
“You need to wear new shoes around the house to break them in.”
“Thieves usually break into houses, not break in.”
Band 8 sentence
“I was making a point when he kept breaking in, which made it hard to get my ideas across.”
Collocations
- break in on a conversation
- break in new shoes
Word family
break-in nounbreaking in verb (gerund)
Common mistakes
use 'break into' to mean 'interrupt'→break in (or break in on)
translate literally as 'break in the shoes' without change→break in new shoes
Say it for a higher band
5interrupt→6cut in→7+break in
Synonyms
interrupt
Easily confused
cut in
“She cut in before he could finish his sentence.”
Related words
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In break …
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