English Idiom – Break the ice.
To say or do something that helps people relax and start talking, especially when they have just met.
It’s the first day of a new course. Twelve strangers are sitting in a circle, staring at their shoes, and nobody says a word. Then the teacher asks everyone to share the worst present they have ever received. Within a minute, the whole room is laughing. She has broken the ice!
The idea comes from boats. In winter, rivers and harbours froze over, and nothing could move until someone broke the ice to clear a path for the ships behind. In English, the phrase was first used to mean making a start on something difficult: Shakespeare used it this way in The Taming of the Shrew in the 1590s. By the late 1600s it had its modern meaning of getting past an awkward silence. Today a game or question used to get strangers talking is called an icebreaker.
How to Use It
- The usual pattern is do something to break the ice: “She asked about my dog to break the ice.”
- The thing that works can be the subject: “A game of cards really broke the ice.”
- The verb is irregular: break, broke, broken. “Once the ice was broken, we talked for hours.”
Note: in Britain, the classic way to break the ice is to talk about the weather. It doesn’t need to be interesting. That’s the whole point!
More idioms for awkward moments: A Fish Out of Water, Bite Your Tongue and Poker Face. Not sure what to say first? Try our Real English Greetings.
Example:
- “Nobody was talking, so I told a joke to break the ice.”
- “Dad’s terrible dancing broke the ice, and soon the whole room was laughing.”
- “Breaking the ice is always the hardest part of a first date.”
- “What’s the best way to break the ice with new neighbours?”
Learn More
Look it upBreak the iceWiktionaryWhat is an idiom?
An idiom is a word or phrase that is not taken literally. An idiom is an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its individual words, but has a separate meaning of its own.
Frequently Asked Questions
It means to say or do something that helps people relax and start talking, especially when they have just met or when there is an awkward silence.
It comes from breaking the ice on frozen rivers and harbours so that boats could pass. In English it first meant making a start on something difficult, and by the late 1600s it meant getting past an awkward silence.
An icebreaker is a game, question or activity used to help people who do not know each other relax and start talking, for example at the start of a course or a meeting.
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