breakneck

adj, adv, noun — 4 senses

breakneck

adj

CA, US, UK /ˈbɹeɪkˌnɛk/ · AU, NZ /ˈbɹæɪkˌnek/

Etymology From break + neck.

1

Dangerously fast; hell-for-leather.

breakneck pace
He came running around the corner at a breakneck pace and couldn't stop in time to avoid hitting the fruit stand.

2 more examples

The line to Dunières conists of a series of breakneck descents almost invariably ended by a violent curve and followed immediately by a panting climb, on which the engine barked thunderously but failed unhappily to maintain its booked speed of 13 m.p.h.1961 November, H. G. Ellison, P. G. Barlow, “Journey through France: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 668:
The use of machine learning in this field is hardly new, but the breakneck pace at which it is improving is worrying, Lund says: “With the advent of ChatGPT, the future is bleak.”2023 June 27, Clea Skopeliti, “‘The future is bleak’: how AI concerns are shaping graduate’s career choices”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

breakneck

adv

Etymology From break + neck.

1

Dangerously fast.

I ran breakneck another hundred yards.2009, Carlos Reid, Stalking the Warden, page 165:

breakneck

noun

Etymology From break + neck.

1

A fall that breaks the neck.

2

A dangerous steep place from which one could fall and be injured.

Related terms: breakbone

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.