Englishmake or break
Meaning: To be the deciding factor in whether something succeeds or fails.
Example: “This audition could make or break her career.”
Equivalents in other languages
Swedish: bära eller brista Literally: To bear or break
Origin: The older, alliterative version, "make or mar," dates back to the 1400s and remains the more common form in British English even today. "Make or break," the rhyming American variant using the same structure with a different second word, is first recorded in Charles Dickens's 1840 novel Barnaby Rudge, with the Oxford English Dictionary's earliest citation from 1846, in the writing of James Fenimore Cooper. The two phrases work identically: whatever moment or decision is described as "make or break" carries genuinely binary stakes, with no safe middle outcome between full success and total failure.
More English idioms
- method to one's madness Explanation; forethought or logic.
- miss the boat To miss an opportunity because one is too late.
- money to burn Extra money; money to spend however one likes.
- more something than one bargained for More than one expected.
- nip something in the bud To stop something before it becomes big or involved; to stop something before it gets muc…
- nix something To cancel an idea or plan; to reject or forbid something.
Explore another collection: Proverbs
Short sayings of timeless wisdom from more than 50 cultures, each with its meaning and origin.
- Was Hänschen nicht lernt, lernt Hans nimmermehr What you don't learn when young is hard to learn later.
- Die Hunde bellen, die Karawane zieht weiter Let critics talk; carry on with what you are doing.
- Wer den Pfennig nicht ehrt, ist des Talers nicht wert If you don't value small amounts, you don't deserve large ones.
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