student asking question

What's "break out" mean and when's it used?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Here, "break out" means to escape or to assist in someone escaping. It's often used in relation to prison, prisoners, or if someone is locked in somewhere. "Break out" also means for something, like a fight, war, or conflict, to start suddenly. Ex: An argument broke out in the store while we were there. Ex: Shawshank Redemption is a great movie about a prison breakout. Ex: John helped me break out of detention by pretending to be sick.

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