busted
Americanadjective
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broken, fractured, or seriously damaged.
a busted leg.
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no longer working or operating.
a busted radio.
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penniless or bankrupt; broke.
busted businesses that can’t pay their bills.
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I never talk about my busted marriages.
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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.
Hardened globs of crude cling to fishing nets pulled from the lake, and natural gas gurgles up from busted underwater pipelines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The property slump means that real estate, once Chinese savers’ preferred method of socking money away, is a busted flush.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Retrieving busted bots on stretchers, one of the Humanoid Games’ best visual gags, may actually have originated with her league.
From Slate ● Sep. 27, 2026
"Immediately, we were comfortable with each other, and we jacked with each other, and we busted each other's chops, and we laughed a lot," he recalled.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
I was hanging the halter on the gate post when something way down inside me busted wide open.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
