break open
phrasal verb
broke open; broken open; breaking open; breaks open
: to open or to cause (something) to open suddenly
The pods broke open and the seeds scattered on the wind.
The police broke open the door.
The burglars broke the locked safe open.
Examples of break open in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Noah Thomas shut down Bel Air's offense, while Patterson Mill broke open a tight game with four runs in the sixth inning.
—
Tom Pelle, Baltimore Sun, 5 Apr. 2025
Prosecutors said the women took advantage of the chaos and entered the Capitol through an entrance where the doors had been broken open.
—Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 22 Jan. 2025
If a plaque suddenly breaks open, a blood clot forms that can partially or wholly block the coronary artery, hindering blood flow to the heart and causing a heart attack.
—Alicen Nelson Md, Verywell Health, 27 Mar. 2025
In the show’s first two seasons, Laura’s murder broke open a placid American town—much as a severed ear, in Lynch’s 1986 film, Blue Velvet, famously undermined middle America’s saintly image of itself.
—K. Austin Collins, The Atlantic, 7 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for break open
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Tom Pelle, Baltimore Sun, 5 Apr. 2025
Prosecutors said the women took advantage of the chaos and entered the Capitol through an entrance where the doors had been broken open.
—Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 22 Jan. 2025
If a plaque suddenly breaks open, a blood clot forms that can partially or wholly block the coronary artery, hindering blood flow to the heart and causing a heart attack.
—Alicen Nelson Md, Verywell Health, 27 Mar. 2025
In the show’s first two seasons, Laura’s murder broke open a placid American town—much as a severed ear, in Lynch’s 1986 film, Blue Velvet, famously undermined middle America’s saintly image of itself.
—K. Austin Collins, The Atlantic, 7 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for break open
Cite this Entry
“Break open.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/break%20open. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.
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