be at breaking point
be close to breaking point

He seemed to recognise that I was at breaking point.

Now, with 1.7 million more adults likely to need help at home by 2030, the system is at breaking point.

The armies of Eumenes and his allies were at breaking point.

He was pale and his voice trembled as though he was at breaking point.

His control was at breaking point.

By the sixteenth hut Shannow's nerves were at breaking point.

My nerves were at breaking point.

The French centre-left was at breaking point.

Will is at breaking point.

Maternity services are at breaking point.

Despite the new erection of a new wing in 1956, the school in the early 1960s was at breaking point.

Don't assume that you will be able to 'stretch' to meet extra demand; you may be at breaking point already.

The high-profile trip was meant to be an upbeat and cheerful end to the toughest year of their lives - instead they appeared to be at breaking point.

Tom and Julia's partnership is at breaking point just as Ivy, Eileen, and the entire Bombshell team are running themselves ragged to outshine their competitors.

Carl is married to a local girl and their relationship is at breaking point - she wants to leave Scotland and settle in America while he wants to remain in Scotland.

The youth unemployment problem is dire, adoption and care agencies are at breaking point as desperate families are giving up their children for adoption but these charities (having had their funding cut) are struggling to cope.

This was at a time when the relationship between the two men was at breaking point, so their rivalry pushed the development of the car far ahead of the other teams as they tried to out-do each other.

Culpeper married the daughter of a wealthy merchant, which allowed him to set up a pharmacy in the halfway house in Spitalfields, London, outside the authority of the City of London at a time when medical facilities in London were at breaking point.

By the 1620s and '30s, however, the ability of the Spanish monarchy to extract resources from Castile was at breaking point, as illustrated by Olivares' early failiure to reform the millones food tax in Castile, and with war continuing across Europe, new options were necessary.

PAS say that the system is at breaking point, with prisoners suffering endless delays in getting a hearing, spending far longer in prisons that have no facilities or courses for them to complete in order to show a reduction in risk and far longer in open conditions before they are considered suitable for release.

Linda saw that Anna was close to breaking point.

By the time he arrives in Panama, he is close to breaking point.

The President is close to breaking point.

But incremental successes are not going to change the fact that the 300,000 people of Sarajevo are close to breaking point.

All looked strained and exhausted, and Niall could see that some were close to breaking point.

For some Lib Dems, it is close to breaking point.

Michael Savage is close to breaking point about the upcoming presidential election that is only one year away (listen to clip).

Niall had the uncomfortable feeling that the Spider Lord's temper was close to breaking point.

And somehow her partner knew she was close to breaking point, because there he was, moving like the Wrath of God toward the older guy.

He . . . Well, forgive me if this sounds impertinent, but I feel he is close to breaking point."

Speaking in June 2007, Södertälje's mayor Anders Lago described the situation as being close to breaking point, with the authorities barely able to provide basic services and many newcomers sharing apartments with up to fifteen people.

Mark Wright, who was Mr Souness's first signing last summer and was made club captain in December, was also confident that the Anfield machinery, which has been close to breaking point several times this season, will run smoothly until the manager's expected return in July.