quebrar

From Old Galician-Portuguese quebrar, itself, through metathesis, from Latin crepāre (“crack, creak”).

quebrar (first-person singular present quebro, first-person singular preterite quebrei, past participle quebrado)

1. Alternative form of crebar

• quebra
• quebrado
• quebradura

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “quebrar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “quebrar”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “quebrar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• “quebrar”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “quebrar”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “crebar”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

From Old Galician-Portuguese quebrar, itself, through metathesis, from Latin crepāre (“to crack, to creak”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱorh₂-.

• Hyphenation: que‧brar

quebrar (first-person singular present quebro, first-person singular preterite quebrei, past participle quebrado)

1. (transitive, intransitive) to break (end up or cause to end up in two or more pieces that cannot easily be reassembled)

   Synonyms: arrebentar, despedaçar, estraçalhar, partir, romper

2. to fracture a bone

   Synonym: fraturar

3. (intransitive) to break down (stop, or to cause to stop, functioning properly or altogether)

   Synonyms: danificar-se, estragar

   Antonyms: arrumar, consertar

4. to break (do that which is forbidden by a rule, promise, etc.)
5. to break (ruin or be ruined financially)

   Synonym: falir

6. (intransitive, of a wave) to break (collapse into surf)
7. (transitive, figurative) to beat up (give a severe beating to)

   Synonyms: arrebentar, estraçalhar, moer

8. to break (set a new record)

For quotations using this term, see Citations:quebrar.

• “quebrar”, in iDicionário Aulete (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “quebrar”, in Dicionário inFormal (in Portuguese), 2006–2025
• “quebrar” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “quebrar”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “quebrar”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “quebrar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Through metathesis, from Latin crepāre (“crack, creak”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱorh₂-. Compare English crevasse.

• IPA^(key): /keˈbɾaɾ/
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: que‧brar

quebrar (first-person singular present quiebro, first-person singular preterite quebré, past participle quebrado)

1. (transitive) to break, to snap, to shatter (to smash or rupture)

   Synonym: romper

2. (transitive, figuratively) to break (often in legal contexts)
3. (transitive) to bend, flex or twist
4. (intransitive) to fail; to go broke; to become bankrupt; to go out of business; to crash, to go bust, to go under (used in political, economic and business/financial/investment contexts)
5. (intransitive) to break up
6. (intransitive, slang, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia) to kill
7. (reflexive) to crack, to break, to shatter (putting the onus on the thing cracking itself, absolving any sentient subject of responsibility)
8. (reflexive, figuratively) to crack, to break (e.g. crack under pressure, break after interrogation)
9. (intransitive, slang, Argentina) to vomit after drinking too much alcohol

• resquebrajar
• grieta

• “quebrar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10