broken
adjective
Simple meaning
Shattered or split into pieces, like a damaged bone
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
brohkuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɹoʊkən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
of a bone or body part
Fractured; having the bone in pieces.
Fragmented; in separate pieces.
Physically and forcibly separated into pieces or cracked or split
of skin
Split or ruptured.
of sleep
Interrupted; not continuous.
of a melody
Having periods of silence scattered throughout; not regularly continuous.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (of a bone or body part) Fractured; having the bone in pieces.
Used this way, broken is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- distributed , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use broken
- “Oh no, the handle on my favorite mug is broken.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An arch with a gap at the apex.
Devastating sorrow and despair.
A family in which the parents have separated or divorced.
A chronic emphysema of the horse that causes difficult expiration and heaving of the flanks.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: fractured
Antonyms
Sense: fractured
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.