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 The Lancers added a run in the fourth and put up five in the fifth to break open the game. —

Kevin J. Farmer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 May 2024 Cupertino finished 15-7. Division V No. 2 St. Ignatius 11, No. 3 Homestead 1 (6 innings) St. Ignatius broke open a tight game with five in the fifth and four in the sixth to defeat Homestead in a Division V semifinal at Capuchino High. —

Nathan Canilao, The Mercury News, 22 May 2024 Softball Perry Hall 20, Catonsville 2: The Gators broke open a 4-2 game with 16 fourth-inning runs in the first game of a doubleheader. —

Baltimore Sun Staff, Baltimore Sun, 29 Apr. 2024 In the clip, rescuers carefully break open a hole in the wall with a sledgehammer. —

Raven Brunner, Peoplemag, 15 May 2024 The front office doesn’t need to break open any binders for contingency plans starting with what to do with a top-four pick. —

Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 14 May 2024 In the seventh inning, Los Angeles scored four additional runs to break open the game. —

Jaylon Thompson, Kansas City Star, 12 May 2024 Who is the Indian nationalist who falls in love with the song or has her heart broken open by it? —

Emily Lordi Philip Cheung, New York Times, 10 May 2024 Something in me broke open, then just as quickly slammed shut. —

Rebecca Gummere, TIME, 8 May 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'break open.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.