Meaning trap
break down
collapse negotiations
If talks, negotiations, or discussions break down, they fail completely and cannot continue, often due to disagreement.
Don't mix these meanings
Same phrase, different job.
If talks, negotiations, or discussions break down, they fail completely and cannot continue, often due to disagreement.
'break down' also has the more basic meaning 'stop working'; this is the advanced sense.
Hear it in context
Notice where the phrase sounds natural.
- Talks between the two companies broke down after neither side was willing to compromise.business
- If discussions between management and staff representatives break down, it can lead to industrial action and a loss of trust.IELTS speaking
Fix the pattern
Pattern: break down (of talks/negotiations/discussions)
WrongNegotiations were broken down last night.
RightNegotiations broke down last night.
Here 'break down' is intransitive — talks break down; they don't 'get broken down'.
Patternbreak down (of talks/negotiations/discussions)
Use it right
Choose the version that sounds natural in speech.
'Break down' is the standard verb for talks collapsing; the paraphrase is wordy.
Build natural chunks
Words that usually travel with it.
talks/negotiations break downtalksnegotiationsthe marriagecompletely
Don't confuse it
This sense is figurative and refers to the failure of abstract processes like negotiations, not to machines stopping (B1) or people losing emotional control (B2).
Related
- break down (stop working) — 'break down' also has the more basic meaning 'stop working'; this is the advanced sense.