Толковый словарь английского языка

the past participle of ↑break

[Word Family: noun: ↑break, ↑outbreak, ↑breakage; adjective: ↑breakable ≠ ↑unbreakable, ↑broken ≠ ↑unbroken; verb: ↑break]

1. PIECE OF EQUIPMENT not working properly:

The CD player’s broken again.

Do you know how the phone got broken (=became broken)?

2. OBJECT in small pieces because it has been hit, dropped etc:

Mind the broken glass.

Wrap it up well so it doesn’t get broken (=become broken) in the mail.

3. BONE cracked because you have had an accident:

a badly broken leg

Gibbs had an X-ray, which revealed no broken bones.

4. NOT CONTINUOUS interrupted and not continuous:

a broken white line

a long noisy night of broken sleep

5. PERSON extremely weak mentally or physically because you have suffered a lot:

He returned from the war a broken man.

6. broken English/French etc if you speak in broken English, French etc, you speak slowly and make a lot of mistakes because you know only a little of the language

7. broken home a family that no longer lives together because the parents have ↑divorced:

The majority of offenders do not come from broken homes.

8. broken marriage a marriage that has ended because the husband and wife do not live together anymore

9. a broken heart a feeling of extreme sadness, especially because someone you love has died or left you:

I reckon she died of a broken heart.

• • •

THESAURUS

▪ broken something that is broken has become separated into pieces, for example by being hit or dropped: The floor was covered in broken glass. | This suitcase is no good – the handle’s broken. | The birds had gotten into the cabin through a broken window. | In the corner of the room were a broken chair and a rickety old desk.

▪ out of order [not before noun] if a machine, especially one used by the public, is out of order, it is not working for a temporary period: Every phone I tried was out of order. | The toilets were all out of order.

▪ down [not before noun] if a computer system is down, it is not working: The computer system was down all afternoon, so we went home. | go down (=stop working): The network went down at 11:00 and we lost the whole morning’s work.

▪ on the blink (also on the fritz American English) [not before noun] informal if a piece of electrical equipment is on the blink, it sometimes works and sometimes does not: My TV’s on the blink again. | go on the blink/fritz: The car’s air conditioning went on the fritz just as we reached Dallas.

▪ there’s something wrong with something used when saying that a car, machine etc does not work properly and you do not know why: There’s something wrong with my car; I think it might be the battery. | There was something wrong with the photocopier, so we called in the service company. | have something wrong with it: If the VCR has something wrong with it, take it back to the store.

▪ something has had it informal used when saying that a car, machine etc is completely broken and cannot be repaired: I’m afraid the bike’s had it.