fall apart
English
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb
fall apart (third-person singular simple present falls apart, present participle falling apart, simple past fell apart, past participle fallen apart)
- (intransitive) To disintegrate, to break into pieces.
- My old briefcase is falling apart. I'll have to buy a new one.
- 2011, Tom Fordyce, Rugby World Cup 2011: England 12-19 France:
- England's World Cup dreams fell apart under a French onslaught on a night when their shortcomings were brutally exposed at the quarter-final stage.
- 2023 September 9, “Network News: Robeston train troubles”, in Rail, page 6:
- It investigated extensive damage caused by a Robeston-Westerleigh train after the brake system under one of its wagons fell apart on October 30 2017.
- (idiomatic) To be emotionally in crisis.
- As a result of being addicted to heroin, she was falling apart.
Synonyms
- (break into pieces through being in a dilapidated state): break, break apart, break up, come apart, come apart at the seams, come undone, disintegrate, fall to bits, fall to pieces
- (be emotionally in crisis): crack up
Derived terms
- fally-aparty
Translations
intransitive: break into pieces through being in a dilapidated state
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be emotionally in crisis
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