fall to pieces

English

Verb

fall to pieces (third-person singular simple present falls to pieces, present participle falling to pieces, simple past and past participle fell to pieces)

1. To break into a number of segments; to collapse.

   The covers of the old book fell to pieces when I picked it up.

2. (figurative) To be emotionally devastated; to break down.

   When I found out my mother had passed away that night, I fell to pieces.

Translations

collapse

• French: tomber en miettes

be emotionally devastated

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 崩潰／崩溃 (zh) (bēngkuì)

• Finnish: murtua (fi), hajota (fi)
• French: s’effondrer (fr)
• Italian: andare in pezzi
• Russian: разва́ливаться (ru) impf (razválivatʹsja), развали́ться (ru) pf (razvalítʹsja)