busted
Americanadjective
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broken, fractured, or seriously damaged.
a busted leg.
-
no longer working or operating.
a busted radio.
-
penniless or bankrupt; broke.
busted businesses that can’t pay their bills.
-
I never talk about my busted marriages.
-
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.
Multilingual scripts, images of young women and timed toilet breaks: a police tour of a newly busted cyberscam operation in Cambodia on Wednesday revealed how fraudsters ensnare foreign victims online.
From Barron's
Smith said he was once told that Williamson “got busted hiding food under his bed.”
From Los Angeles Times
At this very moment my mom could be knocking on my bedroom door, and I’d be beyond busted.
From Literature
"But that doctor in there to him was very funny because it gave it this air of authority that he thought that he clearly did not have - especially because he was busted at Oxford."
From BBC
I couldn’t see very much of his face for the handkerchief, but what little I could see was as red as a busted watermelon.
From Literature
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.
