broke 1 of 2

adjective

Definition of brokenext
as in poor
lacking money or material possessions too broke to afford even a used car

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broke

2 of 2

verb

past tense of break
1
as in disrupted
to cause to separate into pieces usually suddenly or forcibly hated telling her that I had broken her favorite glass vase

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2
as in ended
to bring (as an action or operation) to an immediate end the final vote broke the deadlock

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3
as in demoted
to bring to a lower grade or rank the captain was broken to lieutenant commander for disobeying a direct order from his group commander

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4
as in deciphered
to change (as a secret message) from code into ordinary language Alan Turing and the Bletchley Park mathematicians broke the Enigma code being used by the Nazis

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5
as in paused
to come to a temporary halt in one's activity she broke from her ruminations to find that it was already dinnertime

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6
as in plowed
to cut into and turn over the sod of (a piece of land) using a bladed implement farmers once broke fields with horse-drawn plows

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7
as in violated
to fail to keep had to confess that he had broken his promise not to share their conversation with anyone

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8
as in solved
to find an answer for through reasoning Professor Bates broke the problem when she realized that it was possible to synthesize the necessary compounds

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9
as in damaged
to reduce the soundness, effectiveness, or perfection of I broke a tooth on the hard candy

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10
as in died
to stop functioning after working for 30 years, the pump simply broke one day

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11
as in retreated
to hasten away from something dangerous or frightening the herd of gazelles broke when they saw the lions racing toward them from the ridge above

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12
as in wore
to use up all the physical energy of the trek up the mountain just about broke me

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13
as in circulated
to become known as soon as the scandal broke, the CEO fled the country

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14
as in ruined
to cause to lose one's fortune and become unable to pay one's debts another bad investment could break him

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15
as in began
to come into existence the crisis had passed, and a new day was breaking

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16
as in veered
to depart abruptly from a straight line or course the running back broke to his left before running out of bounds

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17
as in reduced
to diminish the price or value of distressing economic news that will break many energy stocks

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18
as in exceeded
to go beyond the limit of a menu with prices that is likely to break the budgets of all but the wealthiest of diners

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19
as in surfaced
to penetrate the surface (as of water) from below dolphins were breaking all around the boat

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of broke
Adjective
The pat explanation for this shift is that people are just too busy, too broke, and too brain-melted to read serious books any more. — Literary Hub, 15 July 2026 As the match enters a hydration break, Austria — which has already gone for broke with four substitutions this half — will have to try something different to rally. — Ashley Mowreader, NBC news, 3 July 2026
Verb
Overnight lows broke records too, so homes that normally cooled down after sunset just didn’t. — Ryan Brennan, Miami Herald, 1 Sep. 2026 Melvin and Dreyer took turns congratulating and embracing Ikeda shortly after the news broke. — Amaris Encinas, USA Today, 31 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for broke
Recent Examples of Synonyms for broke
  1. poor
  2. disrupted
  3. ended
  4. demoted
  5. deciphered
  6. paused
  7. plowed
  8. violated
Adjective
  • Dozens of companies have withdrawn over the past decades due to poor profits, an uncertain business outlook and concerns about harm to their reputations from making arms, especially lethal weapons.
    — Mia Osmonbekov, Fortune, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Along the way, the audience can expect tons of humiliation, terrible second prizes, and the guarantee that Robertson will turn at least one poor soul's wrong turn into several minutes of unhinged public destruction.
    — Rebecca Rosman, NPR, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of poor
Verb
  • Efforts to bring the outbreak under control — from limited public gatherings to social distancing and airport closures — have disrupted life in the six affected provinces, particularly Ituri, which has been ravaged by rebel violence.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 28 Aug. 2026
  • The choices of what to put in each episode — and when to cut from one timeline to another — have sometimes felt arbitrary, and have often disrupted the story’s overall flow.
    — Noel Murray, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of disrupted
Verb
  • The city experienced a recent peak of 719 homicides in 2022, a year before Johnson took office, and ended last year with 416, according to Chicago police statistics.
    — Jake Sheridan, Chicago Tribune, 31 Aug. 2026
  • This is one family’s experience of their last year in Connecticut after major hospitals abruptly ended gender-affirming medical care for trans youth.
    — Dr. SJ Job, Hartford Courant, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of ended
Verb
  • An officer with the Porter County Sheriff’s Department who misused the county’s license plate reader system has been demoted, suspended without pay and faced other disciplinary measures, according to a release from Sheriff Jeffery Balon.
    — Post-Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Ramirez was surprised and very upset when the team demoted him to Jacksonville in May, according to a team source.
    — Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of demoted
Verb
  • Uncertainty notwithstanding, the longevity world has glommed onto the notion that the vaginal microbiome is some kind of exotic tealeaf that can be deciphered—and perfected by purchasing the right supplements.
    — Sarah DiGregorio, Vanity Fair, 27 July 2026
  • Its successor script, Linea B, was also a mystery until it was deciphered in 1952 by an amateur linguist and cryptographer Michael Ventris with the help of classicist John Chadwick, both building on patterns in the script first identified by classicist Alice Kober.
    — Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 23 June 2026
Definition of deciphered
Verb
  • That same month, the administration temporarily paused the processing of immigrant visa appointments worldwide for consular officer training, though the pause is not expected to last beyond early to-mid-September.
    — Mariel Ferragamo, NBC news, 2 Sep. 2026
  • Several California universities have paused international students’ applications to pursue off-campus internships after the federal government issued guidance last month urging enhanced scrutiny of these work authorizations.
    — Tarini Mehta, Sacbee.com, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of paused
Verb
  • Officials told Indian media outlets that whatever fell off the glacier may have dropped into a glacial lake and blocked a river, resulting in the massive wave of ice, water and debris that plowed through settlements nearby.
    — Claire Cameron, Scientific American, 27 Aug. 2026
  • The chase ended when the car plowed through a fence on Sumter Avenue.
    — Renee Anderson, CBS News, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of plowed
Verb
  • The core of the Teamsters’ petition against the DMV is the claim that regulators violated the California Administrative Procedure Act by failing to complete an extensive study of the economic and practical impact of the policy change.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2026
  • Meta also lost a separate social-media case brought by New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez, after a court found that the company violated the state's child-safety laws and ordered it to pay over $900 million in penalties.
    — Sawdah Bhaimiya, CNBC, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of violated

Browse Nearby Words

broils
broke
broke bread
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Cite this Entry

“Broke.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/broke. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

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