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Breakdown vs. Collapse — What's the Difference?

Breakdown vs. Collapse — What's the Difference?

Difference Between Breakdown and Collapse

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Breakdown

The act or process of failing to function or continue.

Collapse

To fall down or inward suddenly; cave in.

Breakdown

The condition resulting from this
A breakdown in communication.

Collapse

To break down suddenly in strength or health and thereby cease to function
A monarchy that collapsed.

Breakdown

(Electricity) The abrupt failure of an insulator or insulating medium to restrict the flow of current.
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Collapse

To fold compactly
Chairs that collapse for storage.

Breakdown

A typically sudden collapse in physical or mental health.

Collapse

To cause to fold, break down, or fall down or inward.

Breakdown

An analysis, an outline, or a summary consisting of itemized data or essentials.

Collapse

The act of falling down or inward, as from loss of supports.

Breakdown

Disintegration or decomposition into parts or elements.

Collapse

An abrupt failure of function, strength, or health; a breakdown.

Breakdown

A noisy, energetic American country dance.

Collapse

An abrupt loss of perceived value or of effect
The collapse of popular respect for the integrity of world leaders.

Breakdown

The music for this dance.

Collapse

(intransitive) To break apart and fall down suddenly; to cave in.

Breakdown

A popular dance originating in the early 1970s, performed to funk music.

Collapse

(intransitive) To cease to function due to a sudden breakdown; to fail suddenly and completely.
Pyramid schemes tend to generate profits for a while and then collapse.

Breakdown

A failure, particularly mechanical in nature.
Whenever she was behind the wheel, she would panic at the first sign of a breakdown.

Collapse

(intransitive) To fold compactly.

Breakdown

Something that has experienced a mechanical failure.
We saw a breakdown by the side of the road.

Collapse

To hide additional directory (folder) levels below the selected directory (folder) levels. When a folder contains no additional folders, a minus sign (-) appears next to the folder.

Breakdown

A physical collapse or lapse of mental stability.
After so much stress, he suffered a breakdown and simply gave up.

Collapse

(cricket) For several batsmen to get out in quick succession

Breakdown

Listing, division or categorization in great detail.
Looking at the breakdown of the budget, I see a few items we could cut.

Collapse

(transitive) To cause something to collapse.
Hurry up and collapse the tent so we can get moving.

Breakdown

A detailed description of a forthcoming project, including the characters and roles required.

Collapse

(intransitive) To pass out and fall to the floor or ground, as from exhaustion or other illness; to faint.
The exhausted singer collapsed on stage and had to be taken to the hospital.

Breakdown

(chemistry) Breaking of chemical bonds within a compound to produce simpler compounds or elements.

Collapse

The act of collapsing.

Breakdown

(physics) The sudden transition of an electrical insulator to a conductor when subjected to a sufficiently strong voltage, caused by the partial or complete ionization of the insulator.

Collapse

Constant function, one-valued function (in automata theory) (in particular application causing a reset). en

Breakdown

A musical technique by which the music is stripped down, becoming simpler, varying in heaviness depending on the genre.

Collapse

To fall together suddenly, as the sides of a hollow vessel; to close by falling or shrinking together; to have the sides or parts of (a thing) fall in together, or be crushed in together; as, a flue in the boiler of a steam engine sometimes collapses.
A balloon collapses when the gas escapes from it.

Breakdown

(sports) A loss of organization (of the parts of a system).

Collapse

To fail suddenly and completely, like something hollow when subject to too much pressure; to undergo a collapse; as, Maximilian's government collapsed soon after the French army left Mexico; many financial projects collapse after attaining some success and importance.

Breakdown

A noisy, rapid, shuffling dance engaged in competitively by a number of persons or pairs in succession, common in traditional African American music from the Southern United States.

Collapse

A falling together suddenly, as of the sides of a hollow vessel.

Breakdown

Any noisy dance performed by shuffling the feet, usually by one person at a time.

Collapse

A sudden and complete failure; an utter failure of any kind; a breakdown.

Breakdown

(US) Any rapid bluegrass dance tune, especially featuring a five-string banjo.
"Foggy Mountain Breakdown"

Collapse

Extreme depression or sudden failing of all the vital powers, as the result of disease, injury, or nervous disturbance.

Breakdown

(music) The percussion break of songs chosen by a DJ for use in hip-hop music.

Collapse

An abrupt failure of function or health

Breakdown

The act or result of breaking down, as of a carriage; downfall.

Collapse

A mishap caused by something suddenly falling down or caving in

Breakdown

A noisy, rapid, shuffling dance engaged in competitively by a number of persons or pairs in succession, as among the colored people of the Southern United States, and so called, perhaps, because the exercise is continued until most of those who take part in it break down.
Don't clear out when the quadrilles are over, for we are going to have a breakdown to wind up with.

Collapse

The act of throwing yourself down;
He landed on the bed with a great flop

Breakdown

The act of disrupting an established order so it fails to continue;
The social dislocations resulting from government policies
His warning came after the breakdown of talks in London

Collapse

A sudden large decline of business or the prices of stocks (especially one that causes additional failures)

Breakdown

A mental or physical breakdown

Collapse

Break down, literally or metaphorically;
The wall collapsed
The business collapsed
The dam broke
The roof collapsed
The wall gave in
The roof finally gave under the weight of the ice

Breakdown

A cessation of normal operation;
There was a power breakdown

Collapse

Collapse due to fatigue, an illness, or a sudden attack

Breakdown

An analysis into mutually exclusive categories

Collapse

Fold or close up;
Fold up your umbrella
Collapse the music stand

Collapse

Fall apart;
The building crimbled after the explosion
Negociations broke down

Collapse

Cause to burst;
The ice broke the pipe

Collapse

Suffer a nervous breakdown

Collapse

Lose significance, effectiveness, or value;
The school system is collapsing
The stock market collapsed

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