| Principal Translations |
| breakdown n | (car, machine: failure) | avería nf |
| | | descompostura nf |
| | Mary had a breakdown on the way to work, which caused her to be late. |
| | Mary tuvo una avería camino al trabajo, y por eso llegó tarde. |
| breakdown n | (chemical decomposition) | descomposición nf |
| | In just a few days, the breakdown of the cell structure was apparent. |
| | En tan solo unos días, la descomposición de la célula fue evidente. |
| breakdown n | (mental collapse) | ataque de nervios loc nom m |
| | | crisis nerviosa loc nom f |
| | | colapso nervioso loc nom m |
| | Apparently, Dr. Harris had a breakdown, so Dr. Watts is taking over his scheduled surgeries. |
| | Aparentemente el Dr. Harris tuvo un ataque de nervios así que el Dr. Watts los está reemplazando en las cirugías. |
| breakdown n | (analysis into parts) | análisis nm |
| | | desglose nm |
| | A breakdown of the study, its findings, and its implications can be found on page 10. |
| | Un análisis del estudio, sus descubrimientos y sus consecuencias, puede encontrarse en la página 10. |
| breakdown n | (finance: itemization) | desglose nm |
| | The breakdown of the department's spending budget is shown in this graph. |
| | El desglose del presupuesto de gastos del departamento se muestra en este gráfico. |
| breakdown n | (disrupted communication) | ruptura nf |
| | There's been a breakdown in negotiations between the two countries. |
| | Hubo una ruptura en las negociaciones ente los dos países. |
| Principal Translations |
| break down vi phrasal | (machine: stop working) | averiarse⇒ v prnl |
| | | romperse⇒ v prnl |
| Note: The single-word form is used when the term is a noun. |
| | The car broke down on the way home. |
| | El auto se averió camino a casa. |
| break down vi phrasal | figurative (person: cry) | ponerse a llorar, romper a llorar loc verb |
| | | largarse a llorar loc verb |
| | (PR) | desmelenarse⇒ v prnl |
| | Stella broke down when the police told her about her husband's accident. |
| | Stella se puso a llorar cuando la policía le contó sobre el accidente de su marido. |
| break down vi phrasal | figurative (collapse, become weak) | colapsar⇒ vi |
| | | hundirse⇒ v prnl |
| | | desmoronarse⇒, derrumbarse⇒ v prnl |
| | The union called a strike after talks broke down over retirement benefits. |
| | El sindicato llamó a una huelga luego de que las negociaciones sobre las jubilaciones colapsaran. |
break [sth] down,
break down [sth] vtr phrasal sep | (door, wall: knock down) (puertas, paredes) | tirar abajo loc verb |
| | | echar abajo loc verb |
| | | derribar⇒ vtr |
| | The police broke down the door when they raided the house. |
| | La policía tiró abajo la puerta cuando allanaron la casa. |
break [sth] down,
break down [sth] vtr phrasal sep | (substance: disintegrate) | descomponer⇒ vtr |
| | Stomach acid breaks down food during digestion. |
| | Los ácidos estomacales descomponen la comida durante la digestión. |
break [sth] down,
break down [sth] vtr phrasal sep | figurative (analyze) (analizar) | descomponer⇒ vtr |
| | | desglosar⇒ vtr |
| | | analizar⇒ vtr |
| | We can break down the process into a number of separate stages. |
| | Podemos descomponer el proceso en un número de etapas separadas. |