[syn: broken, busted]
12. discontinuous;
- Example: "broken clouds"
- Example: "broken sunshine"
13. lacking a part or parts;
- Example: "a broken set of encyclopedia"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Break \Break\ (br[=a]k), v. t. [imp. broke (br[=o]k), (Obs.
Brake); p. p. Broken (br[=o]"k'n), (Obs. Broke); p. pr.
& vb. n. Breaking.] [OE. breken, AS. brecan; akin to OS.
brekan, D. breken, OHG. brehhan, G. brechen, Icel. braka to
creak, Sw. braka, br[aum]kka to crack, Dan. br[ae]kke 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.
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2. To lay open as by breaking; to divide; as, to break a
package of goods.
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3. To lay open, as a purpose; to disclose, divulge, or
communicate.
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Katharine, break thy mind to me. --Shak.
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4. To infringe or violate, as an obligation, law, or promise.
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Out, out, hyena! these are thy wonted arts . . .
To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray.
--Milton
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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.
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Go, release them, Ariel;
My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore.
--Shak.
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6. To destroy the completeness of; to remove a part from; as,
to break a set.
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7. To destroy the arrangement of; to throw into disorder; to
pierce; as, the cavalry were not able to break the British
squares.
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8. To shatter to pieces; to reduce to fragments.
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The victim broke in pieces the musical instruments
with which he had solaced the hours of captivity.
--Prescott.
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9. To exchange for other money or currency of smaller
denomination; as, to break a five dollar bill.
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10. To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of; as,
to break flax.
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11. To weaken or impair, as health, spirit, or mind.
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An old man, broken with the storms of state.
--Shak.
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12. To diminish the force of; to lessen the shock of, as a
fall or blow.
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I'll rather leap down first, and break your fall.
--Dryden.
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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.
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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.
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Why, then thou canst not break her to the lute?
--Shak.
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15. To destroy the financial credit of; to make bankrupt; to
ruin.
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With arts like these rich Matho, when he speaks,
Attracts all fees, and little lawyers breaks.
--Dryden.
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16. To destroy the official character and standing of; to
cashier; to dismiss.
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I see a great officer broken. --Swift.
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Note: With prepositions or adverbs:
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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.]
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Note: With an immediate object:
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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 a code to discover a method to convert coded
messages into the original understandable text.
To break cover, to burst forth from a protecting
concealment, as game when hunted.
To break a deer or To break a 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 breaks 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.
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Syn: To dispart; rend; tear; shatter; batter; violate;
infringe; demolish; destroy; burst; dislocate.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Broken \Bro"ken\ (br[=o]"k'n), a. [From Break, v. t.]
1. Separated into parts or pieces by violence; divided into
fragments; as, a broken chain or rope; a broken dish.
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2. Disconnected; not continuous; also, rough; uneven; as, a
broken surface.
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3. Fractured; cracked; disunited; sundered; strained; apart;
as, a broken reed; broken friendship.
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4. Made infirm or weak, by disease, age, or hardships.
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The one being who remembered him as he been before
his mind was broken. --G. Eliot.
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The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay,
Sat by his fire, and talked the night away.
--Goldsmith.
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5. Subdued; humbled; contrite.
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The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. --Ps. li.
17.
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6. Subjugated; trained for use, as a horse.
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7. Crushed and ruined as by something that destroys hope;
blighted. "Her broken love and life." --G. Eliot.
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8. Not carried into effect; not adhered to; violated; as, a
broken promise, vow, or contract; a broken law.
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9. Ruined financially; incapable of redeeming promises made,
or of paying debts incurred; as, a broken bank; a broken
tradesman.
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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.
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Amidst the broken words and loud weeping of those
grave senators. --Macaulay.
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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.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
broken
adj 1: physically and forcibly separated into pieces or cracked
or split; "a broken mirror"; "a broken tooth"; "a broken
leg"; "his neck is broken" [ant: unbroken]
2: 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" [ant:
unbroken]
3: subdued or brought low in condition or status; "brought low";
"a broken man"; "his broken spirit" [syn: broken,
crushed, humbled, humiliated, low]
4: (especially of promises or contracts) having been violated or
disregarded; "broken (or unkept) promises"; "broken
contracts" [syn: broken, unkept] [ant: kept,
unbroken]
5: tamed or trained to obey; "a horse broken to the saddle";
"this old nag is well broken in" [syn: broken, broken in]
6: topographically very uneven; "broken terrain"; "rugged
ground" [syn: broken, rugged]
7: imperfectly spoken or written; "broken English"
8: 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" [syn:
broken, confused, disordered, upset]
9: weakened and infirm; "broken health resulting from
alcoholism"
10: destroyed financially; "the broken fortunes of the family"
[syn: broken, wiped out(p), impoverished]
11: 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" [syn: broken,
busted]
12: discontinuous; "broken clouds"; "broken sunshine"
13: lacking a part or parts; "a broken set of encyclopedia"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
268 Moby Thesaurus words for "broken":
aggravated, aloof, ausgespielt, bankrupt, beaten, blasted,
blighted, broke, broken off, broken-down, brought low, bumpy,
burned, burst, busted, capricious, careening, catchy, chastened,
checked, chipped, chopped-off, choppy, coarse, coarse-grained,
conditioned, conquered, corrugated, cracked, crazed, cross-grained,
crushed, cut, damaged, debilitated, decousu, defeated, defied,
dejected, demoralized, desolated, destitute, destroyed, desultory,
detached, deteriorated, devastated, deviative, disciplined,
disconnected, discontinued, discontinuous, discouraged, discrete,
disintegrated, disjointed, disjunctive, disobeyed, dispirited,
disregarded, disturbed, docile, domesticated, done for, done in,
dovelike, down-and-out, eccentric, embittered, enfeebled, episodic,
erratic, exacerbated, failed, fallen, felled, finished, fitful,
flattened, flickering, fluctuating, fractured, fragmentary,
fragmented, gapped, gentle, gone to pot, grainy, granulated,
guttering, halting, harmed, haywire, herky-jerky, heteroclite,
homespun, horripilant, housebroke, housebroken, humble, humbled,
humiliated, hurt, ignored, immethodical, impaired, imperfect,
in bits, in disrepair, in pieces, in receivership, in ruins,
in shards, incoherent, inconsistent, inconstant, inequal,
infringed, injured, inoperative, insolvent, intermittent,
intermitting, interrupted, irregular, irremediable, irritated,
jagged, jerky, jolty, kaput, lacerated, lamblike, licked,
linsey-woolsey, lurching, made to grovel, mangled, mastered, meek,
mild, mutilated, nonadherent, nonadhesive, noncoherent,
noncohesive, noncontinuous, nonlinear, nonsequential, nonserial,
nonuniform, obedient, on the blink, on the fritz, on the rocks,
open, out of commission, out of condition, out of gear,
out of joint, out of kelter, out of kilter, out of order,
out of repair, out of tune, out of whack, overthrown, pacific,
parenthetic, patchy, peaceable, pimply, pitted, pocky, potholed,
pulverized, put down, quelled, quiet, rambling, rank, ravaged,
reduced, rent, ripply, rough, rough-cast, rough-grained,
rough-hewn, ruffled, ruined, ruinous, ruptured, rutted, rutty,
scalded, scorched, scrappy, shagged, shaggy, shattered, shivered,
slashed, slit, smashed, snatchy, spasmatic, spasmic, spasmodic,
spastic, splintered, split, spoiled, sporadic, spotty, sprung,
staggering, subdued, subjugated, suppressed, suspended, tame,
tamed, tenuous, textured, the worse for, torn, trained,
transgressed, unadhesive, uncertain, uncoherent, uncohesive,
unconnected, undone, unequal, uneven, unjoined, unkempt, unlevel,
unmethodical, unmetrical, unpolished, unrefined, unregular,
unrhythmical, unsettled, unsmooth, unsteady, unsuccessive,
unsystematic, untenacious, ununiform, vanquished, variable,
veering, violated, wandering, wasted, wavering, weakened, wimpled,
wobbling, wobbly, worse, worse off, worsened, wrecked
The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):
broken
adj.
1. Not working according to design (of programs). This is the mainstream
sense.
2. Improperly designed, This sense carries a more or less disparaging
implication that the designer should have known better, while sense 1
doesn't necessarily assign blame. Which of senses 1 or 2 is intended is
conveyed by context and nonverbal cues.
3. Behaving strangely; especially (when used of people) exhibiting extreme
depression.
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
broken
Not working properly (of programs).