bork

¹ American  

[bawrk] / bɔrk /

verb (used with object)

1. to cause to malfunction, especially computer hardware or software: The fonts are borked when the site is accessed from a mobile device.

   Installing updates in the wrong order will bork all of your saved games.

   The fonts are borked when the site is accessed from a mobile device.

2. to mess up, ruin, break, botch, etc.: Of course I borked my leg on the first day of our ski trip.

   He said all of the wrong things during his interview and completely borked his chances of being invited back.

   Of course I borked my leg on the first day of our ski trip.

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bork ² American  

[bawrk] / bɔrk /

verb (used with object)

1. to attack (a candidate or public figure) systematically, especially in the media.

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Etymology

Origin of bork¹

First recorded in 2000–05; perhaps an alteration of break ( def. ), influenced by bork ² ( def. )

Origin of bork²

An Americanism dating back to 1988; after Judge Robert H. Bork, whose appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court was blocked in 1987 after an extensive media campaign by his opponents

Example Sentences

A.I. deepfakes could bork our information ecosystem even worse than it is already borked, making it so that people can sparsely tell what is real online and what is not.

From Slate • Apr. 25, 2025

Supreme Court, may take some grudging satisfaction in finding himself memorialized as a verb: to bork is to "attack systematically, especially in the media."

From Time Magazine Archive

Most of them were nonsense: bork, dork, gork, hork, jork.

From "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau