Noun

(en noun)

A failure, particularly mechanical; something that has failed

We saw a breakdown by the side of the road.

A physical collapse or lapse of mental stability

After so much stress, he suffered a breakdown and simply gave up.

Listing, division or categorization in great detail

''Looking at the breakdown of the budget, I see a few items we could cut.

(chemistry) Breaking of chemical bonds within a compound to produce simpler compounds or elements.

A musical technique, by where the music is stripped down, becoming simpler, and can vary in heaviness depending on the genre.

* 1992 , En Vogue, My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It) (song)

And now it's time for a breakdown !

(sports) A loss of organization (of the parts of a system).

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=September 18 , author=Ben Dirs , title=Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Georgia, ranked 16th in the world, dominated the breakdown before half-time and forced England into a host of infringements, but fly-half Merab Kvirikashvili missed three penalties.}}

(US, dated) A noisy, rapid, shuffling dance engaged in competitively by a number of persons or pairs in succession, as among the blacks of the southern United States.

(US, dated) Any crude, noisy dance performed by shuffling the feet, usually by one person at a time.

* (rfdate) New Eng. Tales

Don't clear out when the quadrilles are over, for we are going to have a breakdown to wind up with.

(US) Any rapid bluegrass dance tune, especially featuring a five-string banjo.

Foggy Mountain 'Breakdown'

* 1893 , (Mark Twain) "The Californian's Tale", in (1906)

Towards nine the three miners said that as they had brought their instruments they might as well tune up, for the boys and girls would soon be arriving now, and hungry for a good old fashioned breakdown . A fiddle, a banjo, and a clarinet - these were the instruments.

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* {{quote-book, ???, title=Watch You Bleed: The Saga of Guns N' Roses, page=102,

books.google.com/books?isbn=1592403778, author=Stephen Davis, year=2008, passage=Izzy lays down some big chords while Slash plays the song's banjo breakdown of a theme.}}

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Noun

(en noun)

An act of knocking down or the condition of being knocked down.

An overwhelming blow.

(genetics) A genetically modified organism that carries one or more genes in its chromosomes that has been made less active or had its expression reduced.

(genetics) The use of a reagent such as an oligonucleotide with sequence complementary to an active gene or its mRNA transcript, to interfere with the expression of said gene.

(nautical) The condition of a sailboat being pushed abruptly to horizontal, with the mast parallel to the water surface.

(soccer) a short pass played downwards, for example from the head onto someone's feet.

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=January 29 , author=Chris Bevan , title=Aston Villa 3 - 1 Blackburn , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Pires, a three-time Cup winner with Arsenal who scored the Gunners' winner against Southampton in the 2003 final, has been a largely peripheral figure at Villa Park since joining in November - but the 37-year-old rolled back the years with a fine finish from Delfouneso's knockdown . }}