BROKEN

broken

(adjective) physically and forcibly separated into pieces or cracked or split; “a broken mirror”; “a broken tooth”; “a broken leg”; “his neck is broken”

broken, unkept

(adjective) (especially of promises or contracts) having been violated or disregarded; “broken (or unkept) promises”; “broken contracts”

broken

(adjective) not continuous in space, time, or sequence or varying abruptly; “broken lines of defense”; “a broken cable transmission”; “broken sleep”; “tear off the stub above the broken line”; “a broken note”; “broken sobs”

broken

(adjective) lacking a part or parts; “a broken set of encyclopedia”

broken

(adjective) discontinuous; “broken clouds”; “broken sunshine”

broken, busted

(adjective) out of working order (‘busted’ is an informal substitute for ‘broken’); “a broken washing machine”; “the coke machine is broken”; “the coke machine is busted”

broken, wiped out, impoverished

(adjective) destroyed financially; “the broken fortunes of the family”

broken

(adjective) weakened and infirm; “broken health resulting from alcoholism”

broken, confused, disordered, upset

(adjective) thrown into a state of disarray or confusion; “troops fleeing in broken ranks”; “a confused mass of papers on the desk”; “the small disordered room”; “with everything so upset”

broken

(adjective) imperfectly spoken or written; “broken English”

broken, crushed, humbled, humiliated, low

(adjective) subdued or brought low in condition or status; “brought low”; “a broken man”; “his broken spirit”

broken, rugged

(adjective) topographically very uneven; “broken terrain”; “rugged ground”

broken, broken in

(adjective) tamed or trained to obey; “a horse broken to the saddle”; “this old nag is well broken in”

BREAK

fracture, break

(verb) fracture a bone of; “I broke my foot while playing hockey”

break

(verb) fall sharply; “stock prices broke”

break

(verb) crack; of the male voice in puberty; “his voice is breaking--he should no longer sing in the choir”

break

(verb) render inoperable or ineffective; “You broke the alarm clock when you took it apart!”

break, separate, split up, fall apart, come apart

(verb) become separated into pieces or fragments; “The figurine broke”; “The freshly baked loaf fell apart”

crack, break

(verb) become fractured; break or crack on the surface only; “The glass cracked when it was heated”

break, recrudesce, develop

(verb) happen; “Report the news as it develops”; “These political movements recrudesce from time to time”

break, break off, discontinue, stop

(verb) prevent completion; “stop the project”; “break off the negotiations”

interrupt, break

(verb) terminate; “She interrupted her pregnancy”; “break a lucky streak”; “break the cycle of poverty”

dampen, damp, soften, weaken, break

(verb) lessen in force or effect; “soften a shock”; “break a fall”

fail, go bad, give way, die, give out, conk out, go, break, break down

(verb) stop operating or functioning; “The engine finally went”; “The car died on the road”; “The bus we travelled in broke down on the way to town”; “The coffee maker broke”; “The engine failed on the way to town”; “her eyesight went after the accident”

break

(verb) come into being; “light broke over the horizon”; “Voices broke in the air”

break

(verb) find the solution or key to; “break the code”

break

(verb) find a flaw in; “break an alibi”; “break down a proof”

break

(verb) undergo breaking; “The simple vowels broke in many Germanic languages”

pause, intermit, break

(verb) cease an action temporarily; “We pause for station identification”; “let’s break for lunch”

unwrap, disclose, let on, bring out, reveal, discover, expose, divulge, break, give away, let out, uncover

(verb) make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret; “The auction house would not disclose the price at which the van Gogh had sold”; “The actress won’t reveal how old she is”; “bring out the truth”; “he broke the news to her”; “unwrap the evidence in the murder case”; “The newspaper uncovered the President’s illegal dealings”

break, get out, get around

(verb) be released or become known; of news; “News of her death broke in the morning”

better, break

(verb) surpass in excellence; “She bettered her own record”; “break a record”

break

(verb) pierce or penetrate; “The blade broke her skin”

break, break off, snap off

(verb) break a piece from a whole; “break a branch from a tree”

break, wear, wear out, bust, fall apart

(verb) go to pieces; “The lawn mower finally broke”; “The gears wore out”; “The old chair finally fell apart completely”

break, bust

(verb) ruin completely; “He busted my radio!”

break

(verb) separate from a clinch, in boxing; “The referee broke the boxers”

break, burst, erupt

(verb) force out or release suddenly and often violently something pent up; “break into tears”; “erupt in anger”

break

(verb) curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves; “The surf broke”

collapse, fall in, cave in, give, give way, break, founder

(verb) break down, literally or metaphorically; “The wall collapsed”; “The business collapsed”; “The dam broke”; “The roof collapsed”; “The wall gave in”; “The roof finally gave under the weight of the ice”

break

(verb) emerge from the surface of a body of water; “The whales broke”

break

(verb) scatter or part; “The clouds broke after the heavy downpour”

break, break out, break away

(verb) move away or escape suddenly; “The horses broke from the stable”; “Three inmates broke jail”; “Nobody can break out--this prison is high security”

bankrupt, ruin, break, smash

(verb) reduce to bankruptcy; “My daughter’s fancy wedding is going to break me!”; “The slump in the financial markets smashed him”

demote, bump, relegate, break, kick downstairs

(verb) assign to a lower position; reduce in rank; “She was demoted because she always speaks up”; “He was broken down to Sergeant”

separate, part, split up, split, break, break up

(verb) discontinue an association or relation; go different ways; “The business partners broke over a tax question”; “The couple separated after 25 years of marriage”; “My friend and I split up”

break, break away

(verb) interrupt a continued activity; “She had broken with the traditional patterns”

break

(verb) cause the failure or ruin of; “His peccadilloes finally broke his marriage”; “This play will either make or break the playwright”

transgress, offend, infract, violate, go against, breach, break

(verb) act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises; “offend all laws of humanity”; “violate the basic laws or human civilization”; “break a law”; “break a promise”

violate, go against, break

(verb) fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns; “This sentence violates the rules of syntax”

break

(verb) give up; “break cigarette smoking”

break

(verb) cause to give up a habit; “She finally broke herself of smoking cigarettes”

break

(verb) vary or interrupt a uniformity or continuity; “The flat plain was broken by tall mesas”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Proper noun

Broken

(derogatory, slang) Torres Strait Creole.

Anagrams

• Borken, bonker, borken

Etymology

Verb

broken

past participle of break

Adjective

broken (comparative more broken, superlative most broken)

Fragmented, in separate pieces.

(of a, bone or body part) Fractured; having the bone in pieces.

(of skin) Split or ruptured.

(of a, line) Dashed, made up of short lines with small gaps between each one and the next.

(of sleep) Interrupted; not continuous.

(meteorology, of the sky) Five-eighths to seven-eighths obscured by clouds; incompletely covered by clouds.

(of a, melody) having periods of silence scattered throughout; not regularly continuous.

(of a, promise, etc) Breached; violated; not kept.

Non-functional; not functioning properly.

(of an, electronic connection) Disconnected, no longer open or carrying traffic.

(software, informal) Badly designed or implemented.

(pejorative, of language) Grammatically non-standard, especially as a result of being produced by a non-native speaker.

(colloquial, US, of a, situation) Not having gone in the way intended; saddening.

(of a, person) Completely defeated and dispirited; shattered; destroyed.

Having no money; bankrupt, broke.

(of land) Uneven.

(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.

Synonyms

• (fragmented—bone, objects et al): burst, split; see also broken

• (fragmented—line, sleep et al): intermittent, spasmodic; see also discontinuous

• (not kept): violated

• (non-functional): borked, malfunctioning; see also out of order

• (completely defeated): rekt

• (having no money): destitute, skint; see also impoverished

• (uneven land)

• (overpowered): OP, unbalanced

Hyponyms

• heartbroken

• housebroken

• jailbroken

Anagrams

• Borken, bonker, borken

Source: Wiktionary

Bro"ken (bro"k'n), a. Etym: [From Break, v. t.]

1. Separated into parts or pieces by violence; divided into fragments; as, a broken chain or rope; a broken dish.

2. Disconnected; not continuous; also, rough; uneven; as, a broken surface.

3. Fractured; cracked; disunited; sundered; strained; apart; as, a broken reed; broken friendship.

4. Made infirm or weak, by disease, age, or hardships. The one being who remembered him as he been before his mind was broken. G. Eliot. The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay, Sat by his fire, and talked the night away. Goldsmith.

5. Subdued; humbled; contrite. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. Ps. li. 17.

6. Subjugated; trained for use, as a horse.

7. Crushed and ruined as by something that destroys hope; blighted. "Her broken love and life." G. Eliot.

8. Not carried into effect; not adhered to; violated; as, a broken promise, vow, or contract; a broken law.

9. Ruined financially; incapable of redeeming promises made, or of paying debts incurred; as, a broken bank; a broken tradesman.

10. Imperfectly spoken, as by a foreigner; as, broken English; imperfectly spoken on account of emotion; as, to say a few broken words at parting. Amidst the broken words and loud weeping of those grave senators. Macaulay. Broken ground. (a) (Mil.) Rough or uneven ground; as, the troops were retarded in their advance by broken ground. (b) Ground recently opened with the plow.

– Broken line (Geom.), the straight lines which join a number of given points taken in some specified order.

– Broken meat, fragments of meat or other food.

– Broken number, a fraction.

– Broken weather, unsettled weather.

BREAK

Break, v. t. [imp. broke, (Obs. Brake); p. p. Broken (, (Obs. Broke); p. pr. & vb. n. Breaking.] Etym: [OE. breken, AS. brecan; akin to OS. brekan, D. breken, OHG. brehhan, G. brechen, Icel.braka to creak, Sw. braka, bräkka to crack, Dan. brække to break, Goth. brikan to break, L. frangere. Cf. Bray to pound, Breach, Fragile.]

1. To strain apart; to sever by fracture; to divide with violence; as, to break a rope or chain; to break a seal; to break an axle; to break rocks or coal; to break a lock. Shak.

2. To lay open as by breaking; to divide; as, to break a package of goods.

3. To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or communicate. Katharine, break thy mind to me. Shak.

4. To infringe or violate, as an obligation, law, or promise. Out, out, hyena! these are thy wonted arts . . . To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray. Milton

5. To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate; as, to break silence; to break one's sleep; to break one's journey. Go, release them, Ariel; My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore. Shak.

6. To destroy the completeness of; to remove a part from; as, to break a set.

7. To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to pierce; as, the cavalry were not able to break the British squares.

8. To shatter to pieces; to reduce to fragments. The victim broke in pieces the musical instruments with which he had solaced the hours of captivity. Prescott.

9. To exchange for other money or currency of smaller denomination; as, to break a five dollar bill.

10. To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of; as, to break flax.

11. To weaken or impair, as health, spirit, or mind. An old man, broken with the storms of state. Shak.

12. To diminish the force of; to lessen the shock of, as a fall or blow. I'll rather leap down first, and break your fall. Dryden.

13. To impart, as news or information; to broach; -- with to, and often with a modified word implying some reserve; as, to break the news gently to the widow; to break a purpose cautiously to a friend.

14. To tame; to reduce to subjection; to make tractable; to discipline; as, to break a horse to the harness or saddle. "To break a colt." Spenser. Why, then thou canst not break her to the lute Shak.

15. To destroy the financial credit of; to make bankrupt; to ruin. With arts like these rich Matho, when he speaks, Attracts all fees, and little lawyers breaks. Dryden.

16. To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss. I see a great officer broken. Swift.

Note: With prepositions or adverbs: --To break down. (a) To crush; to overwhelm; as, to break down one's strength; to break down opposition. (b) To remove, or open a way through, by breaking; as, to break down a door or wall.

– To break in. (a) To force in; as, to break in a door. (b) To train; to discipline; as, a horse well broken in.

– To break of, to rid of; to cause to abandon; as, to break one of a habit.

– To break off. (a) To separate by breaking; as, to break off a twig. (b) To stop suddenly; to abandon. "Break off thy sins by righteousness." Dan. iv. 27.

– To break open, to open by breaking. "Open the door, or I will break it open." Shak.

– To break out, to take or force out by breaking; as, to break out a pane of glass.

– To break out a cargo, to unstow a cargo, so as to unload it easily.

– To break through. (a) To make an opening through, as, as by violence or the force of gravity; to pass violently through; as, to break through the enemy's lines; to break through the ice. (b) To disregard; as, to break through the ceremony.

– To break up. (a) To separate into parts; to plow (new or fallow ground). "Break up this capon." Shak. "Break up your fallow ground." Jer. iv. 3. (b) To dissolve; to put an end to. "Break up the court." Shak.

– To break (one) all up, to unsettle or disconcert completely; to upset. [Colloq.]

Note: With an immediate object: -To break the back. (a) To dislocate the backbone; hence, to disable totally. (b) To get through the worst part of; as, to break the back of a difficult undertaking.

– To break bulk, to destroy the entirety of a load by removing a portion of it; to begin to unload; also, to transfer in detail, as from boats to cars.

– To break cover, to burst forth from a protecting concealment, as game when hunted.

– To break a deer or stag, to cut it up and apportion the parts among those entitled to a share.

– To break fast, to partake of food after abstinence. See Breakfast.

– To break ground. (a) To open the earth as for planting; to commence excavation, as for building, siege operations, and the like; as, to break ground for a foundation, a canal, or a railroad. (b) Fig.: To begin to execute any plan. (c) (Naut.) To release the anchor from the bottom.

– To break the heart, to crush or overwhelm (one) with grief.

– To break a house (Law), to remove or set aside with violence and a felonious intent any part of a house or of the fastenings provided to secure it.

– To break the ice, to get through first difficulties; to overcome obstacles and make a beginning; to introduce a subject.

– To break jail, to escape from confinement in jail, usually by forcible means.

– To break a jest, to utter a jest. "Patroclus . . . the livelong day break scurril jests." Shak.

– To break joints, to lay or arrange bricks, shingles, etc., so that the joints in one course shall not coincide with those in the preceding course.

– To break a lance, to engage in a tilt or contest.

– To break the neck, to dislocate the joints of the neck.

– To break no squares, to create no trouble. [Obs.] -- To break a path, road, etc., to open a way through obstacles by force or labor.

– To break upon a wheel, to execute or torture, as a criminal by stretching him upon a wheel, and breaking his limbs with an iron bar;

– a mode of punishment formerly employed in some countries.

– To break wind, to give vent to wind from the anus.

Syn.

– To dispart; rend; tear; shatter; batter; violate; infringe; demolish; destroy; burst; dislocate.

Break, v. i.

1. To come apart or divide into two or more pieces, usually with suddenness and violence; to part; to burst asunder.

2. To open spontaneously, or by pressure from within, as a bubble, a tumor, a seed vessel, a bag. Else the bottle break, and the wine runneth out. Math. ix. 17.

3. To burst forth; to make its way; to come to view; to appear; to dawn. The day begins to break, and night is fied. Shak. And from the turf a fountain broke, and gurgled at our feet. Wordswoorth.

4. To burst forth violently, as a storm. The clouds are still above; and, while I speak, A second deluge o'er our head may break. Shak.

5. To open up. to be scattered; t be dissipated; as, the clouds are breaking. At length the darkness begins to break. Macawlay.

6. To become weakened in constitution or faculties; to lose health or strength. See how the dean begins to break; Poor gentleman . Swift.

7. To be crushed, or overwhelmed with sorrow or grief; as, my heart is breaking.

8. To fall in business; to become bankrupt. He that puts all upon adventures doth oftentimes break, and come to poverty. Bacn.

9. To make an abrupt or sudden change; to change the gait; as, to break into a run or gallop.

10. To fail in musical quality; as, a singer's voice breaks when it is strained beyond its compass and a tone or note is not completed, but degenerates into an unmusical sound instead. Also, to change in tone, as a boy's voice at puberty.

11. To fall out; to terminate friendship. To break upon the score of danger or expense is to be mean and narrow-spirited. Collier.

Note: With prepositions or adverbs: -To break away, to disengage one's self abruptly; to come or go away against resistance. Fear me not, man; I will not break away. Shak. To break down. (a) To come down by breaking; as, the coach broke down. (b) To fail in any undertaking. He had broken down almost at the outset. Thackeray.

– To break forth, to issue; to come out suddenly, as sound, light, etc. "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning." Isa. lviii.

Break, n. Etym: [See Break, v. t., and cf. Brake (the instrument), Breach, Brack a crack.]

1. An opening made by fracture or disruption.

2. An interruption of continuity; change of direction; as, a break in a wall; a break in the deck of a ship. Specifically: (a) (Arch.) A projection or recess from the face of a displacement in the circuit, interrupting the electrical current.

3. An interruption; a pause; as, a break in friendship; a break in the conversation.

4. An interruption in continuity in writing or printing, as where there is an omission, an unfilled line, etc. All modern trash is Set forth with numerous breaks and dashes. Swift.

5. The first appearing, as of light in the morning; the dawn; as, the break of day; the break of dawn.

6. A large four-wheeled carriage, having a straight body and calash top, with the driver's seat in front and the footman's behind.

7. A device for checking motion, or for measuring friction. See Brake, n. 9 & 10.

8. (Teleg.)

Definition: See Commutator.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

BROKEN

BREAK

Etymology

Proper noun

Anagrams

Etymology

Verb

Adjective

Usage notes

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Anagrams

BREAK

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