German

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Etymology

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From Middle High German abebrechen, from Old High German ababrehhan, from Proto-West Germanic *ababrekan. Equivalent to ab- +‎ brechen. Cognate with Dutch afbreken (to demolish, to decompose).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈʔapˌbʁɛçn̩], [ˈʔapˌbʁɛçən]
  • Audio:(file)
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: ab‧bre‧chen

Verb

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abbrechen (class 4 strong, third-person singular present bricht ab, past tense brach ab, past participle abgebrochen, past subjunctive bräche ab, auxiliary haben or sein)

  1. (transitive) to break off (remove by breaking) [auxiliary haben]
    Der Sturm brach die Spitzen und Äste vieler Bäume ab.
    The storm broke off the tops and branches of many trees.
  2. (intransitive) to be broken off [auxiliary sein]
    Der Tassengriff bricht ab.
    The cup handle is breaking off.
  3. (transitive) to terminate, to end, to stop (especially suddenly or unexpectedly) [auxiliary haben]
    Der Athlet musste das Training wegen einer Verletzung abbrechen.
    The athlete had to stop training because of an injury.
  4. (transitive) to pull down (demolish) [auxiliary haben]
    die Brücken hinter sich abbrechento burn your bridges behind you
  5. to discard (throw away)

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • abbrechen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • abbrechen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • abbrechen” in Duden online
  • abbrechen” in OpenThesaurus.de