1. (机器或车辆)出毛病,损坏
If a machine or a vehicle breaks down, it stops working.
e.g. Their car broke down.
他们的车子出故障了。
2. (讨论、关系或系统)失败,破裂,失灵
If a discussion, relationship, or system breaks down, it fails because of a problem or disagreement.
e.g. Talks with business leaders broke down last night...
昨晚与商界领导人的谈判破裂了。
e.g. Paola's marriage broke down.
葆拉的婚姻破裂了。
3. 分解;将…分成若干部分
To break down something such as an idea or statement means to separate it into smaller parts in order to make it easier to understand or deal with.
break down的解释
e.g. The report breaks down the results region by region...
报告将调查结果按地区分成若干部分。
e.g. These rules tell us how a sentence is broken down into phrases.
这些规则告诉我们一个句子是怎样分解成若干短语的。
4. (使)(物质)分解
When a substance breaks down or when something breaks it down, a biological or chemical process causes it to separate into the substances which make it up.
e.g. Over time, the protein in the eggshell breaks down into its constituent amino acids...
时间久了,蛋壳中的蛋白质就会分解为其构成成分氨基酸。
e.g. The oil is attacked by naturally occurring microbes which break it down.
原油受到了自然产生的分解油类物质的微生物的侵蚀。
5. 感情失控(痛哭起来)
If someone breaks down, they lose control of themselves and start crying.
e.g. Because he was being so kind and concerned, I broke down and cried...
他如此体贴关心,令我忍不住失声痛哭。
e.g. The young woman broke down in tears.
这名年轻妇人痛哭流涕。
6. 捣毁;拆除
If you break down a door or barrier, you hit it so hard that it falls to the ground.
break down
e.g. An unruly mob broke down police barricades and stormed the courtroom...
一伙暴徒捣毁了警察设置的路障冲进法庭。
e.g. Firemen were called after his father failed to break the door down.
他的父亲没能把门砸开,后来就把消防员叫来了。
7. 消除,破除(障碍或偏见)
To break down barriers or prejudices that separate people or restrict their freedom means to change people's attitudes so that the barriers or prejudices no longer exist.
break down
e.g. His early experience enabled him to break down barriers between Scottish Catholics and Protestants.
他早年的经历使他能够消除苏格兰天主教徒和新教徒之间的隔阂。
8. see also: breakdown;broken-down