breaking point

English

Noun

breaking point (countable and uncountable, plural breaking points)

  1. (mechanics) The point at which the increasing strain in a material causes it to break.
  2. (figurative, by extension) The point at which a person or system succumbs to stresses or pressures and descends into crisis.
    • 2012 November 20, Nina Bernstein, “Storm Bared a Lack of Options for the Homeless in New York”, in New York Times‎[1]:
      Even before Hurricane Sandy, New York was sheltering more homeless people than any city in the United States: a record 47,000 women, men and children, in a system strained to the breaking point.
    • 2025 November 22, Annie Karni, “Marjorie Taylor Greene Says She Will Resign in January, After Break From Trump”, in The New York Times‎[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
      But it was on the Epstein issue that her clash with the president reached its apparent breaking point.
      (Can we archive this URL?)

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