'break up' definitions:

To cause to separate and go in different directions; "She waved her hand and scattered the crowds" [syn: disperse, dissipate, dispel, break up, scatter]

Discontinue an association or relation; go different ways; "The business partners broke over a tax question"; "The couple separated after 25 years of marriage"; "My friend and I split up" [syn: separate, part, split up, split, break, break up]

Come apart; "the group broke up"

Break violently or noisily; smash; [syn: crash, break up, break apart]

Make a break in; "We interrupt the program for the following messages" [syn: interrupt, disrupt, break up, cut off]

Cause to go into a solution; "The recipe says that we should dissolve a cup of sugar in two cups of water" [syn: dissolve, resolve, break up]

Suffer a nervous breakdown [syn: crack up, crack, crock up, break up, collapse]

Take apart into its constituent pieces [syn: disassemble, dismantle, take apart, break up, break apart] [ant: assemble, piece, put together, set up, tack, tack together]

Destroy the completeness of a set of related items; "The book dealer would not break the set" [syn: break, break up]

Set or keep apart; "sever a relationship" [syn: sever, break up]

Attack with or as if with a pickaxe of ice or rocky ground, for example; "Pick open the ice" [syn: pick, break up]

Release ice; "The icebergs and glaciers calve" [syn: calve, break up]

Close at the end of a session; "The court adjourned" [syn: adjourn, recess, break up]

Bring the association of to an end or cause to break up; "The decree officially dissolved the marriage"; "the judge dissolved the tobacco company" [syn: dissolve, break up]

Come to an end; "Their marriage dissolved"; "The tobacco monopoly broke up" [syn: dissolve, break up]

Break or cause to break into pieces; "The plate fragmented" [syn: break up, fragment, fragmentize, fragmentise]

Cause to separate; "break up kidney stones"; "disperse particles" [syn: break up, disperse, scatter]

Separate (substances) into constituent elements or parts [syn: decompose, break up, break down]

Laugh unrestrainedly [syn: break up, crack up]