From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
break up
v 1: to cause to separate and go in different directions; "She
waved her hand and scattered the crowds" [syn: disperse,
dissipate, dispel, break up, scatter]
2: discontinue an association or relation; go different ways;
"The business partners broke over a tax question"; "The
couple separated after 25 years of marriage"; "My friend and
I split up" [syn: separate, part, split up, split,
break, break up]
3: come apart; "the group broke up"
4: break violently or noisily; smash; [syn: crash, break up,
break apart]
5: make a break in; "We interrupt the program for the following
messages" [syn: interrupt, disrupt, break up, {cut
off}]
6: cause to go into a solution; "The recipe says that we should
dissolve a cup of sugar in two cups of water" [syn:
dissolve, resolve, break up]
7: suffer a nervous breakdown [syn: crack up, crack, {crock
up}, break up, collapse]
8: take apart into its constituent pieces [syn: disassemble,
dismantle, take apart, break up, break apart] [ant:
assemble, piece, put together, set up, tack, {tack
together}]
9: destroy the completeness of a set of related items; "The book
dealer would not break the set" [syn: break, break up]
10: set or keep apart; "sever a relationship" [syn: sever,
break up]
11: attack with or as if with a pickaxe of ice or rocky ground,
for example; "Pick open the ice" [syn: pick, break up]
12: release ice; "The icebergs and glaciers calve" [syn:
calve, break up]
13: close at the end of a session; "The court adjourned" [syn:
adjourn, recess, break up]
14: bring the association of to an end or cause to break up;
"The decree officially dissolved the marriage"; "the judge
dissolved the tobacco company" [syn: dissolve, break up]
15: come to an end; "Their marriage dissolved"; "The tobacco
monopoly broke up" [syn: dissolve, break up]
16: break or cause to break into pieces; "The plate fragmented"
[syn: break up, fragment, fragmentize, fragmentise]
17: cause to separate; "break up kidney stones"; "disperse
particles" [syn: break up, disperse, scatter]
18: separate (substances) into constituent elements or parts
[syn: decompose, break up, break down]
19: laugh unrestrainedly [syn: break up, crack up]