busted
Americanadjective
-
broken, fractured, or seriously damaged.
a busted leg.
-
no longer working or operating.
a busted radio.
-
penniless or bankrupt; broke.
busted businesses that can’t pay their bills.
-
I never talk about my busted marriages.
-
in trouble; caught doing something bad or wrong.
I know that’s a lie—you are so busted!
adjective
Etymology
Origin of busted
First recorded in 1835–40; bust 2 ( def. ) + -ed 2 ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And, as someone I wrote about two years ago regarding busted sidewalks in his neighborhood, he shared this lament about Thursday’s debate:
From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2026
“I lived in Vegas for almost a year, busted my ass to slowly build back up kind of a career in a sense,” he explains.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 23, 2026
An orange car pulled into the parking lot, with a busted taillight, and a few members of the group got up and hobbled over.
From Slate • Mar. 25, 2026
Multilingual scripts, images of young women and timed toilet breaks: a police tour of a newly busted cyberscam operation in Cambodia on Wednesday revealed how fraudsters ensnare foreign victims online.
From Barron's • Mar. 11, 2026
You pointed at the muddy earth surrounding a tree whose trunk had busted right through the sidewalk.
From "The Bridge Home" by Padma Venkatraman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
