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Break new ground

Idiomatic Phrase
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Break new ground: to pioneer a new area of knowledge or practice; originally agricultural, the image of turned earth suggests fertility and the effort required to begin something unprecedented.

Detailed Definition
Break new ground means to do something original, innovative, or previously unattempted. In poetry, the idiom is especially apt for artistic manifestos, experimental form, scientific discovery, social reform, or personal transformation. The ground image suggests exploration, cultivation, and the first opening of resistant soil. A poet may use it to celebrate creativity and courage, but also to show the labour required by genuine novelty. It is useful for exploring invention, risk, and the excitement of entering unmapped territory.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poet might praise a scientist who breaks new ground with a lamp in the dark; In literary criticism, break new ground describes verse that changes what poetry can do; The phrase suits poems about discovery, experiment, and courage; A poet could use it literally for a ploughman and figuratively for an innovator.
Additional Notes
To break new ground means to pioneer, innovate, or begin unexplored work. The agricultural image suggests cutting into untouched soil, so it can connect invention with labour, risk, and cultivation. In poetry it is useful for artistic experiment, scientific discovery, social reform, or personal renewal. Students may note how the phrase combines violence and fertility: the ground must be broken before growth can occur.
Also Known As
Innovate pioneer new territory
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