1. Not in working order; not functioning
   "a broken washing machine"; "the coke machine is broken";
   - busted, bust [Brit, informal], up the spout [informal], on the blink [informal], rooted [Austral, NZ, informal], on the fritz [N. Amer, informal], out of order, kaput [informal], knackered [Brit, informal]
    
2. Physically and forcibly separated into pieces, cracked or split
   "a broken leg"; "his neck is broken"; "a broken mirror"; "a broken tooth"
    
3. (especially of promises or contracts) having been violated or disregarded
   "broken promises"; "broken contracts";
   - unkept
    
4. Not continuous in space, time,, sequence or varying abruptly
   "broken sleep"; "tear off the stub above the broken line"; "a broken note"; "broken sobs"; "broken lines of defence"; "a broken cable transmission"
    
5. Subdued or brought low in condition or status
   "a broken man"; "his broken spirit";
   - crushed, humbled, humiliated, low
    
6. Thrown into a state of disarray or confusion
   "troops fleeing in broken ranks";
   - confused, disordered, upset
    
7. Weakened and infirm
   "broken health resulting from alcoholism"
    
8. Destroyed financially
   "the broken fortunes of the family";
   - wiped out, impoverished
    
9. Tamed or trained to obey
   "a horse broken to the saddle"; "this old nag is well broken in";
   - broken in
    
10. Imperfectly spoken or written
    "broken English"
     
11. Topographically very uneven
    "broken terrain";
    - rugged
     
12. Lacking a part or parts
    "a broken set of encyclopaedia"
     
13. (meteorology) discontinuous
    "broken clouds"; "broken sunshine"

1. Destroy the integrity of; usually by force; cause to separate into pieces or fragments
   "He broke the glass plate"; "She broke the match"
    
2. Become separated into pieces or fragments
   "The figurine broke";
   - separate, split up, fall apart, come apart
    
3. Render inoperable or ineffective
   "You broke the alarm clock when you took it apart!";
   - hose [N. Amer, informal]
    
4. Ruin completely
   "The scandal broke his career";
   - bust [informal]
    
5. Terminate or end
   "break a lucky streak"; "break the cycle of poverty";
   - interrupt
    
6. Happen
   "These political movements break from time to time";
   - recrudesce, develop
    
7. Happen or take place
   "Things have been breaking pretty well for us in the past few months"
    
8. Act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises
   "break a law";
   - transgress, offend, infract, violate, go against, breach, outrage
    
9. Move away or escape suddenly
   "The horses broke from the stable"; "Three inmates broke jail"; "Nobody can break out — this prison is high security"; "The horses broke away from the stable";
   - break out, break away
    
10. Scatter or part
    "The clouds broke after the heavy downpour"
     
11. Force out or release suddenly and often violently something pent up
    "break into tears";
    - burst, erupt
     
12. Make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret
    "he broke the news to her";
    - unwrap, disclose, let on, bring out, reveal, discover, expose, divulge, give away, let out, uncover, lay bare
     
13. Come into being
    "light broke over the horizon"; "Voices broke in the air"
     
14. Stop operating or functioning
    "The bus we travelled in broke down on the way to town"; "The coffee maker broke";
    - fail, go bad, give way, die, give out, conk out [informal], go, break down, pack up [Brit, informal], give up the ghost [informal]
     
15. Interrupt a continued activity
    "We need to break for lunch before continuing the meeting";
    - break away
     
16. Curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves
    "The surf broke"
     
17. Lessen in force or effect
    "break a fall";
    - dampen, damp, soften, weaken
     
18. Come to an end
    "The heat wave finally broke yesterday"
     
19. Vary or interrupt a uniformity or continuity
    "The flat landscape was broken by an occasional hill"
     
20. Come forth or begin from a state of latency
    "The first winter storm broke over New York"
     
21. Cause the failure or ruin of
    "His peccadilloes finally broke his marriage"; "This play will either make or break the playwright"
     
22. Discontinue an association or relation; go different ways
    "The business partners broke over a tax question"; "The couple broke up after 25 years of marriage";
    - separate, part, split up, split, break up
     
23. Break down, literally or metaphorically
    "The dam broke";
    - collapse, fall in, cave in, give, give way, founder
     
24. Exchange for smaller units of money
    "I had to break a $100 bill just to buy the candy"
     
25. Cease an action temporarily
    "let's break for lunch";
    - pause, intermit
     
26. Undergo breaking
    "The simple vowels broke in many Germanic languages"
     
27. Enter someone's (virtual or real) property in an unauthorized manner, usually with the intent to steal or commit a violent act
    "Someone broke in while I was on vacation"; "They broke into my car and stole my radio!"; "who broke into my account last night?";
    - break in
     
28. Make submissive, obedient, or useful
    "The horse was tough to break"; "I broke in the new intern";
    - break in
     
29. Fail to agree with; be in violation of; as of rules or patterns
    "This sentence breaks the rules of syntax";
    - violate, go against
     
30. Surpass in excellence
    "break a record";
    - better
     
31. (military) make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one's own by quitting or fleeing
    "The ranks broke"
     
32. Be broken in
    "If the new teacher won't break, we'll add some stress"
     
33. Cause to give up a habit
    "She finally broke herself of smoking cigarettes"
     
34. Give up
    "break cigarette smoking"
     
35. Invalidate by judicial action
    "The Supreme Court broke the restrictive covenant"
     
36. Assign to a lower position; reduce in rank
    "They broke the officer to private";
    - demote, bump, relegate, kick downstairs [informal]
     
37. Reduce to bankruptcy
    "My daughter's fancy wedding is going to break me!";
    - bankrupt, ruin, smash
     
38. Change directions suddenly
    "The car broke to the left"
     
39. Emerge from the surface of a body of water
    "The whales broke"
     
40. Do a break dance
    "Kids were break-dancing at the street corner";
    - break-dance, breakdance
     
41. Destroy the completeness of a set of related items
    "The book dealer would not break the set";
    - break up
     
42. (billiards) make the opening shot that scatters the balls
    "He broke the rack with a powerful shot"
     
43. Separate from a clinch, in boxing
    "The referee broke the boxers"
     
44. Detach or become detached or separated from a larger piece
    "break a branch from a tree"; "Her tooth broke away";
    - chip, chip off, come off, break away, break off, snap off
     
45. Become punctured or penetrated
    "The skin broke"
     
46. Pierce or penetrate
    "The blade broke her skin"
     
47. Be released or become known; of news
    "News of her death broke in the morning";
    - get out, get around, get round
     
48. Interrupt the flow of current in
    "break a circuit"
     
49. Find a flaw in
    "break an alibi"; "break down a proof"
     
50. Find the solution or key to
    "break the code"
     
51. Change suddenly from one tone quality or register to another
    "Her voice broke to a whisper when she started to talk about her children"
     
52. Become fractured; break or crack on the surface only
    "The glass broke when it was heated";
    - crack, check
     
53. Crack; of the male voice in puberty
    "his voice is breaking — he should no longer sing in the choir"
     
54. Fall sharply
    "stock prices broke"
     
55. Diminish or discontinue abruptly
    "The patient's fever broke last night"
     
56. Weaken or destroy in spirit or body
    "The constant stress finally broke him"
     
57. Put an end to a state or an activity
    "break off teasing your little brother";
    - discontinue, stop, cease, give up, quit, lay off, break off, surcease [archaic]
     
58. Yield information under interrogation or torture
    "They managed to break him on the third day";
    - crack
     
59. Successfully decipher a code
    "The team worked tirelessly to break the encrypted message";
    - crack

See also: break down, break through, break up, broken-field, chip, damaged, dashed, destroyed, discontinuous, dismantle, disorganised [Brit], disorganized, distributed, dotted, erupt, fall, fitful, halting, humble, impaired, imperfect, incomplete, injured, integrity, interrupted, noncontinuous, off-and-on, rough, sever, tame, tamed, uncomplete, unity, unsmooth, unsound, wholeness

Type of: alter, annul, appear, assign, avoid, become, belie, blunt, break loose, cause, cease, change, change integrity, change state, come about, come down, come forth, commute, contradict, convert, cut and run [informal], cut off, damage, dance, deaden, decrease, delegate, dent, depute, designate, destroy, detach, diminish, diphthongise [Brit], diphthongize, disperse, disrespect, disrupt, dissipate, disunite, divide, domesticate, domesticise [Brit], domesticize, emerge, end, escape, exceed, exchange, express emotion, express feelings, fall, fall out, figure out, finish, flee, fly, get, get away, go, go down, go on, hap [archaic], happen, have, impoverish, induce, interrupt, intrude, invalidate, lessen, lick [N. Amer, informal], make, modify, negate, nullify, occur, outdo, outgo [archaic], outmatch, outperform, outstrip, part, pass, pass off, penetrate, pierce, puzzle out, quash, reclaim, ruin, scatter, separate, shift, shoot, sink, solve, spread out, stimulate, stop, surmount, surpass, suss [Brit, informal], suss out [Brit, informal], switch, take flight, take place, tame, tell, terminate, trespass, trip the light fantastic [archaic], trip the light fantastic toe [archaic], turn, unriddle, vary, void, weaken, work, work out

Antonym: conform to, kept, make, unbroken

Encyclopedia: Broken, Beat & Scarred