Separated into parts or pieces by violence; divided into fragments; as, a broken chain or rope; a broken dish. [1913 Webster]
Disconnected; not continuous; also, rough; uneven; as, a broken surface. [1913 Webster]
Fractured; cracked; disunited; sundered; strained; apart; as, a broken reed; broken friendship. [1913 Webster]
Made infirm or weak, by disease, age, or hardships. [1913 Webster]
"The one being who remembered him as he been before his mind was broken." [1913 Webster]

"The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay,
Sat by his fire, and talked the night away." [1913 Webster]
Subdued; humbled; contrite. [1913 Webster]
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." [1913 Webster]
Subjugated; trained for use, as a horse. [1913 Webster]
Crushed and ruined as by something that destroys hope; blighted. G. Eliot. [1913 Webster]
Not carried into effect; not adhered to; violated; as, a broken promise, vow, or contract; a broken law. [1913 Webster]
Ruined financially; incapable of redeeming promises made, or of paying debts incurred; as, a broken bank; a broken tradesman. [1913 Webster]
Imperfectly spoken, as by a foreigner; as, broken English; imperfectly spoken on account of emotion; as, to say a few broken words at parting. [1913 Webster]
"Amidst the broken words and loud weeping of those grave senators." [1913 Webster]

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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OXFORD DICTIONARY

broken, past part. of BREAK(1).
--adj.
1 that has been broken; out of order.
2 (of a person) reduced to despair; beaten.
3 (of a language or of speech) spoken falteringly and with many mistakes, as by a foreigner (broken English).
4 disturbed, interrupted (broken time).
5 uneven (broken ground).

Idiom

broken chord Mus. a chord in which the notes are played successively. broken-down
1 worn out by age, use, or ill-treatment.
2 out of order. broken-hearted overwhelmed with sorrow or grief. broken-heartedness grief. broken home a family in which the parents are divorced or separated. broken reed a person who has become unreliable or ineffective. broken wind heaves (see HEAVE n. 3). broken-winded (of a horse) disabled by ruptured air-cells in the lungs.

Derivative

brokenly adv. brokenness n.

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THESAURUS

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

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ROGET THESAURUS

broken

Deterioration

N deterioration, debasement, wane, ebb, recession, retrogradation, decrease, degeneracy, degeneration, degenerateness, degradation, depravation, depravement, devolution, depravity, demoralization, retrogression, masochism, impairment, inquination, injury, damage, loss, detriment, delaceration, outrage, havoc, inroad, ravage, scath, perversion, prostitution, vitiation, discoloration, oxidation, pollution, defoedation, poisoning, venenation, leaven, contamination, canker, corruption, adulteration, alloy, decline, declension, declination, decadence, decadency, falling off, caducity, decrepitude, decay, dilapidation, ravages of time, wear and tear, corrosion, erosion, moldiness, rottenness, moth and rust, dry rot, blight, marasmus, atrophy, collapse, disorganization, delabrement (destruction), aphid, Aphis, plant louse, puceron, vinefretter, vinegrub, wreck, mere wreck, honeycomb, magni nominis umbra, jade, plug, rackabones, skate, tackey, tacky, have seen better days, deteriorate, degenerate, fall off, wane, ebb, retrograde, decline, droop, go down, go downhill, go from bad to worse, go farther and fare worse, jump out of the frying pan into the fire, run to seed, go to seed, run to waste swale, sweal, lapse, be the worse for, sphacelate: break, break down, spring a leak, crack, start, shrivel, fade, go off, wither, molder, rot, rankle, decay, go bad, go to decay, fall into decay, fall into the sear and yellow leaf, rust, crumble, shake, totter, totter to its fall, perish, die, deteriorate, weaken, put back, set back, taint, infect, contaminate, poison, empoison, envenom, canker, corrupt, exulcerate, pollute, vitiate, inquinate, debase, embase, denaturalize, denature, leaven, deflower, debauch, defile, deprave, degrade, ulcerate, stain, discolor, alloy, adulterate, sophisticate, tamper with, prejudice, pervert, prostitute, demoralize, brutalize, render vicious, embitter, acerbate, exacerbate, aggravate, injure, impair, labefy, damage, harm, hurt, shend, scath, scathe, spoil, mar, despoil, dilapidate, waste, overrun, ravage, pillage, wound, stab, pierce, maim, lame, surbate, cripple, hough, hamstring, hit between wind and water, scotch, mangle, mutilate, disfigure, blemish, deface, warp, blight, rot, corrode, erode, wear away, wear out, gnaw, gnaw at the root of, sap, mine, undermine, shake, sap the foundations of, break up, disorganize, dismantle, dismast, destroy, damnify, do one's worst, knock down, deal a blow to, play havoc with, play sad havoc with, play the mischief with, play the deuce with, play the very devil with, play havoc among, play sad havoc among, play the mischief among, play the deuce among, play the very devil among, decimate, Adj, unimproved &c (improve), deteriorated, altered, altered for the worse, injured, sprung, withering, spoiling, on the wane, on the decline, tabid, degenerate, marescent, worse, the worse for, all the worse for, out of repair, out of tune, imperfect, the worse for wear, battered, weathered, weather-beaten, stale, passe, shaken, dilapidated, frayed, faded, wilted, shabby, secondhand, threadbare, worn, worn to a thread, worn to a shadow, worn to the stump, worn to rags, reduced, reduced to a skeleton, far gone, tacky, decayed, moth-eaten, worm-eaten, mildewed, rusty, moldy, spotted, seedy, time-worn, moss-grown, discolored, effete, wasted, crumbling, moldering, rotten, cankered, blighted, tainted, depraved, decrepid, decrepit, broke, busted, broken, out of commission, hors de combat, out of action, broken down, done, done for, done up, worn out, used up, finished, beyond saving, fit for the dust hole, fit for the wastepaper basket, past work, at a low ebb, in a bad way, on one's last legs, undermined, deciduous, nodding to its fall, tottering, past cure, fatigued, retrograde, deleterious, out of the frying pan into the fire, agrescit medendo, what a falling off was there!.

Discontinuity

N discontinuity, disjunction, anacoluthon, interruption, break, fracture, flaw, fault, crack, cut, gap, solution of continuity, caesura, broken thread, parenthesis, episode, rhapsody, patchwork, intermission, alternation, dropping fire, discontinuous, unsuccessive, broken, interrupted, dicousu, disconnected, unconnected, discrete, disjunctive, fitful, spasmodic, desultory, intermitting, occasional, intermittent, alternate, recurrent, at intervals, by snatches, by jerks, by skips, by catches, by fits and starts, skippingly, per saltum, longo intervallo, like 'angel visits few and far between'.

Failure

N failure, nonsuccess, nonfulfillment, dead failure, successlessness, abortion, miscarriage, brutum fulmen, labor in vain, no go, inefficacy, inefficaciousness, vain attempt, ineffectual attempt, abortive attempt, abortive efforts, flash in the pan, lame and impotent conclusion, frustration, slip 'twixt cup and lip, blunder, fault, omission, miss, oversight, slip, trip, stumble, claudication, footfall, false step, wrong step, faux pas, titubation, b_evue, faute, lurch, botchery, scrape, mess, fiasco, breakdown, flunk, mishap, split, collapse, smash, blow, explosion, repulse, rebuff, defeat, rout, overthrow, discomfiture, beating, drubbing, quietus, nonsuit, subjugation, checkmate, stalemate, fool's mate, fall, downfall, ruin, perdition, wreck, deathblow, bankruptcy, losing game, affaire flamb_ee, victim, bankrupt, flunker, flunky, unsuccessful, successless, failing, tripping, at fault, unfortunate, abortive, addle, stillborn, fruitless, bootless, ineffectual, ineffective, inconsequential, trifling, nugatory, inefficient, insufficient, unavailing, of no effect, aground, grounded, swamped, stranded, cast away, wrecked, foundered, capsized, shipwrecked, nonsuited, foiled, defeated, struck down, borne down, broken down, downtrodden, overborne, overwhelmed, all up with, ploughed, plowed, plucked, lost, undone, ruined, broken, bankrupt, played out, done up, done for, dead beat, ruined root and branch, flambe, knocked on the head, destroyed, frustrated, crossed, unhinged, disconcerted dashed, thrown off one's balance, thrown on one's back, thrown on one's beam ends, unhorsed, in a sorry plight, hard hit, stultified, befooled, dished, hoist on one's own petard, victimized, sacrificed, wide of the mark, out of one's reckoning, left in the lurch, thrown away, unattained, uncompleted, unsuccessfully, to little or no purpose, in vain, re infecta, the bubble has burst, the jig is up, the game is up, all is lost, the devil to pay, parturiunt montes, dies infaustus, tout est perdu hors l'honneur.

Weakness

N weakness, debility, atony, relaxation, languor, enervation, impotence, infirmity, effeminacy, feminality, fragility, flaccidity, inactivity, anaemia, bloodlessness, deficiency of blood, poverty of blood, declension of strength, loss of strength, failure of strength, delicacy, invalidation, decrepitude, asthenia, adynamy, cachexy, cachexia, sprain, strain, reed, thread, rope of sand, house of cards, softling, weakling, infant, youth, weak, feeble, debile, impotent, relaxed, unnerved sapless, strengthless, powerless, weakly, unstrung, flaccid, adynamic, asthenic, nervous, soft, effeminate, feminate, womanly, frail, fragile, shattery, flimsy, unsubstantial, insubstantial, gimcrack, gingerbread, rickety, creaky, creaking, cranky, craichy, drooping, tottering, broken, lame, withered, shattered, shaken, crazy, shaky, palsied, decrepit, languid, poor, infirm, faint, faintish, sickly, dull, slack, evanid, spent, short-winded, effete, weather-beaten, decayed, rotten, worn, seedy, languishing, wasted, washy, laid low, pulled down, the worse for wear, unstrengthened, unsupported, unaided, unassisted, aidless, defenseless, cantilevered (support), on its last legs, weak as a child, weak as a baby, weak as a chicken, weak as a cat, weak as a rat, weak as water, weak as water gruel, weak as gingerbread, weak as milk and water, colorless, non sum qualis eram.

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