break up — disrupt a gathering
phrasal verbC1IELTS 7+neutraloccasional
To cause a group of people who have gathered together, especially for a meeting, protest, or other event, to disperse or stop their activity, often by force or official order.
Say it like a native
Textbook Police dispersed the crowd of protesters.
Native Police broke up the protest.
'Break up' is the natural verb for forcing a crowd to disperse; 'dispersed the crowd' is formal.
Pattern: break up [object: gathering/event/crowd]
In use
- The police were called in to break up the demonstration before it turned violent.society
- In some countries, the government may break up public gatherings if they are considered a threat to security or public order.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ Security broke up it.
✓ Security broke it up.
With a pronoun, the object goes in the middle: 'break it up'.
Common collocations
break up + gathering— the fight, the crowd, the party, the protest
Don't confuse it
This sense is different from 'break up' meaning to end a romantic relationship (B1) or to separate something into pieces (B1). Here, it refers specifically to dispersing groups of people, often by intervention.
Related
- break up (end a romantic relationship) — 'break up' also has the more basic meaning 'end a romantic relationship'; this is the advanced sense.