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.
Wildlife officers have busted an illegal cockroach-breeding operation in rural Australia, seizing a skin-crawling haul worth more than $100,000 on the black market for exotic bugs.
From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026
Esiobu, who runs the engineering and robotics club, said there had been an “emergency” fix for a busted system.
From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 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
He got busted for selling candy before, but that was when he tried to do it in class.
From "Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero" by Kelly J. Baptist
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.
