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.
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
She and a dozen colleagues don cotton gloves, roll up their sleeves and plant themselves on cheap plastic stools for the task of separating out the valuable, intact mushrooms from the busted ones.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 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
He smiled after I busted him for looking, which made me recoil in horror and quickly dart over to hide in the pet food aisle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
I so wanted to tell Thomas about my busted cell phone, but I pushed play on my old iPod instead.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
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.
