breakdown
A failure, particularly one which is mechanical in nature.
Example
“Whenever he was behind the wheel, he would panic at the first sign of a breakdown.”
Other meanings
The sudden (and usually damaging) transition of an electrical insulator to a conductor when subjected to a sufficiently strong voltage, caused by the partial or complete ionization of the insulator; an instance of this; also, the minimum voltage at which this occurs.
Something, such as a vehicle, that has experienced a mechanical failure.
“We saw a breakdown by the side of the road.”
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “breakdown” on Wiktionary, by its contributors, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.