break open

1. 1.

   open with force

   “He broke open the picnic basket”

   Broaderopen
2. 2.

   come open suddenly and violently, as if from internal pressure

   “The bubble burst”

   Synonymsburstsplit

   Broaderbreak

   Narrowerpopblowstave
3. 3.

   erupt or intensify suddenly

   “Unrest erupted in the country”

   “Tempers flared at the meeting”

   “The crowd irrupted into a burst of patriotism”

   Synonymseruptirruptflare upflareburst out

   Broaderintensify

Questions about break open

What does break open mean?

break open means "open with force". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for break open?

Close synonyms include burst, split, erupt, irrupt, flare up. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is break open a common word?

break open is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.