breaking the news
Sharing difficult truth
Breaking the news is telling someone something significant, usually unpleasant or difficult to hear: The doctor had to break the news about the diagnosis, Who's going to break the news to Mom?
The phrase implies the information will have emotional impact and requires some care or courage to deliver.
Good news can also be broken, but the default assumption is bad.
- tellConvey information verbally
- informGive facts to
- voiceSound from throat
- intimationIndirect indication of something
- revealMake something visible
pause · disclose · silence · I'm sorry · phone · bearer · sit down · empathy · shock · grief · declaration · divulge · hard to say · brace yourself · confession · condolences · press conference · expression
breaking the newskeeping mum
Staying deliberately silent
covering up · concealing · keeping quiet · stonewalling · holding back
break, breaks, broken, breaker, breakers, breakage, unbreakable, breakable, outbreak