| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| broken |
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| SYLLABICATION: | bro·ken |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  br  k n |
| VERB: | Past participle of break. | | ADJECTIVE: | 1. Forcibly separated into two or more pieces; fractured: a broken arm; broken glass. 2. Sundered by divorce, separation, or desertion of a parent or parents: children from broken homes; a broken marriage. 3. Having been violated: a broken promise. 4a. Incomplete: a broken set of books. b. Being in a state of disarray; disordered: troops fleeing in broken ranks. 5a. Intermittently stopping and starting; discontinuous: a broken cable transmission. b. Varying abruptly, as in pitch: broken sobs. c. Spoken with gaps and errors: broken English. 6. Topographically rough; uneven: broken terrain. 7a. Subdued totally; humbled: a broken spirit. b. Weakened and infirm: broken health. 8. Crushed by grief: died of a broken heart. 9. Financially ruined; bankrupt. 10. Not functioning; out of order: a broken washing machine. | | OTHER FORMS: | broken·ly —ADVERB
broken·ness —NOUN
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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