noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The act of breaking into another person's house with unlawful intent. countable, uncountable

   "Near-synonym: breaking and entering"

2. 2
   trespassing for an unlawful purpose; illegal entrance into premises with criminal intent wordnet

Verb

1. 1
   present participle and gerund of housebreak form-of, gerund, participle, present

Synonyms

All synonyms

breaking and enteringbreak inburglaryaccommodationadjustmentapprenticeship

Example

More examples

"You are under arrest for housebreaking and theft by night."

Etymology

From house + breaking.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.