idiom · neutral

break the bank

/ˌbreɪk ðə ˈbæŋk/break·the·BANK

speakingtask2

use up all your money or savings; make something very expensive for you

Examples

“Paying for that luxury holiday would break the bank for most students.”

“I wanted a new laptop but I didn't want to break the bank.”

“Replacing the roof shouldn't break the bank if we get a good quote.”

Band 8 sentence

“I would love to travel around Europe, but I won't book anything that will break the bank.”

Collocations

  • break the bank for someone
  • would/will break the bank

Word family

break the bank verb phrase

Common mistakes

break bank→break the bank

to break the banked→to break the bank

Say it for a higher band

5spend all my money→6use up all my savings→7+break the bank

Synonyms

cost a fortune

Easily confused

cost a fortune

“That designer bag costs a fortune, but it won't break the bank.”

run out of money

“If we keep spending like this we'll run out of money by next month.”

Related words

make ends meetcost an arm and a legtighten one's beltpenny-wise and pound-foolishstrapped for cashliving paycheck to paychecka fool and his money are soon partedsave up for a rainy day

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In Money

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