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wiki said:breakdown, a section where the composition is deliberately deconstructed to minimal elements (usually the percussion or rhythm section with the vocal re-introduced over the minimal backing)all other parts having been gradually or suddenly cut out: "Breaks are for the drummer; breakdowns are for hands in the air" (Brewster and Broughton 2003, p.79).
If you're talking about breakdowns in the tough guy hardcore/metalcore sense they're probably referring to when the drummer plays a halftime beat and the other instruments play a one-note stop/start kinda riff, usually with a little harmonised trill or something at the end if they're more of a metal band. Basically, in the last few years they've been done to death so you probably want to avoid them at all costs.
i dont mind breakdowns. But I hate how overdone they are. I just listen to bands like unearth and try to forget how overdone those sections are, Beneath the massacre do AWESOME breakdowns. But in my own writing I avoid them. Everyone else has assesed them perfectly