Broken
Pronunciation
- enPR: brÅk'É™n, IPA: /ˈbrəʊkÉ™n/
- Rhymes: -əʊkən
Verb
broken- Past participle of break
Full definition of broken
Adjective
broken
- Fragmented, in separate pieces.
- (of a bone or body part) Fractured; having the bone in pieces.My arm is broken!the ground was littered with broken bones
- (of skin) Split or ruptured.A dog bit my leg and now the skin is broken.
- (of a line) Dashed, made up of short lines with small gaps between each one and the next.
- (of sleep) Interrupted; not continuous.
- unknown date, Jack London, White Fang:Then the circle would lie down again, and here and there a wolf would resume its broken nap.
- (meteorology, of the sky) Five-eighths to seven-eighths obscured by clouds; incompletely covered by clouds.Tomorrow: broken skies.
- (of a promise, etc) Breeched; violated; not kept.broken promises of neutrality, broken vows, the broken covenant
- Non-functional; not functioning properly.I think my doorbell broken.
- (of an electronic connection) Disconnected, no longer open or carrying traffic.
- (software, informal) Badly designed or implemented.This is the most broken application I've seen in a long time.
- (pejorative, of language) Grammatically non-standard, especially as a result of being a non-native speaker.
- (colloquial, US, of a situation) Not having gone in the way intended; saddening.Oh man! That is just broken!
- (of a person) Completely defeated and dispirited; shattered; destroyed.The bankruptcy and divorce, together with the death of his son, left him completely broken.
- Having no money; bankrupt, broke.
- (of land) Uneven.
- 2005, Will Cook, Until Darkness Disappears, page 54:All that day they rode into broken land. The prairie with its grass and rolling hills was behind them, and they entered a sparse, dry, rocky country, full of draws and short cañons and ominous buttresses.
- (sports and gaming, of a tactic or option) Overpowered; overly powerful; too powerful.
Usage notes
Nouns to which "broken" is often applied: glass, vase, cup, mirror, window, bone, wing, leg, arm, hand, foot, heart, egg, tool, sword, column, road, bridge, stick, device, machine, camera, TV, car, computer, promise, vow, law, trust, dream, relationship, friendship, love, family, marriage, bond, tie, silence, ground, land, circle, image, language, spirit, soul.