1.
If part of something breaks off or if you break it off , it comes off or is removed by force.
The two wings of the aircraft broke off on impact...
Grace broke off a large piece of the clay...
They’ve torn down wooden fences and broken branches off trees.
PHRASAL VERB : V P , V P n (not pron) , V n P n , also V n P
2.
If you break off when you are doing or saying something, you suddenly stop doing it or saying it.
Llewelyn broke off in mid-sentence...
The commander of the German task force radioed that he was breaking off the action.
PHRASAL VERB : V P , V P n (not pron) , also V n P
3.
If someone breaks off a relationship, they end it.
The two West African states had broken off relations two years ago...
He doesn’t seem to have the courage to break it off with her.
PHRASAL VERB : pl-n V P n (not pron) , V it P with n ( non-recip )