break it to

“They’re 10 years old. Let them enjoy it, and break it to them later.”

“I hate to break it to you, but Morpho is a fictional character. So you can turn off your night-light and stop worrying about your brains. He’s not real.”

The family knew they would have to break it to Itai that his father, who was killed in a separate building, was gone.

I don't know how he's going to break it to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who has been demanding for months that the Ukraine aid be diverted to the southern border, which she now claims is leaving Americans vulnerable to Hamas terrorists.

“I couldn’t see just how to break it to them by explaining that I ‘own’ a heavyweight prizefighter, so I figured I would maybe wait until tonight.