be busted
Idioms-
Also, go bust . Become bankrupt, financially ruined. For example, Who knew that the brokerage firm would be busted ? [ Slang ; early 1800s] Also see under go broke .
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Also, get busted . Be demoted, as in If you're caught gambling you'll get busted to private . This usage originated in the military and still most often denotes a reduction in rank. [c. 1800]
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Also, get busted . Be arrested or turned over to the police, as in The gang members were sure they'd get busted . [Mid-1900s]
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.
“It’s important that Mathews underestimate him. And to do that, I wanted him to be busted, like, ‘Is this guy going to make it through the afternoon, let alone solve the case?’”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 7, 2025
A phone exchange between the two plotters and others, stated: "Oh dear. Voldemort is never going to be busted by the immigration service now."
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2024
Kosteniuk as White allows her queenside to be busted up and renounces castling in exchange for the bishop pair and a half-open b-file, but neither works to her advantage in the ensuring play.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 20, 2023
Every book of mine is a list of topics I haven’t seen addressed, taboos that need to be busted, secrets that need to be told, things that I want to boggle at.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 24, 2018
“He’d come in, and the machine would be busted on a Sunday morning,” recalled Livingood, “and he’d say, ‘Well, I’m going out to play tennis, and you people have to fix it.’
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
