Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Not in working order.
  • adjective In poor condition, as from old age; infirm.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective no longer in working order
  • adjective not properly maintained; neglected

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective in deplorable condition
  • adjective not in working order

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Assuming the situation isn’t immediately fraught with danger that is, your broken-down vehicle is visible to other cars that may be coming from either direction of the track, you’ve probably got time to mull over your options with a nice hot cup of tea.

    Surviving Australia Sorrel Wilby 2001

  • Assuming the situation isn’t immediately fraught with danger that is, your broken-down vehicle is visible to other cars that may be coming from either direction of the track, you’ve probably got time to mull over your options with a nice hot cup of tea.

    Surviving Australia Sorrel Wilby 2001

  • Assuming the situation isn’t immediately fraught with danger that is, your broken-down vehicle is visible to other cars that may be coming from either direction of the track, you’ve probably got time to mull over your options with a nice hot cup of tea.

    Surviving Australia Sorrel Wilby 2001

  • Slowly, she and Zoe walked over to the broken-down chain-link fence.

    Choker Elizabeth Woods 2011

  • Slowly, she and Zoe walked over to the broken-down chain-link fence.

    Choker Elizabeth Woods 2011

  • He says: "There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark."

    Stephen Hawking: Heaven Is A Myth 2011

  • Bloomberg News The Clam Bar For my daily uniform I like to keep it very casual and comfortable, with a broken-down pair of jeans and Nikes.

    20 Odd Questions: Director Ed Burns 2011

  • Left field may be the classic place to stash old, broken-down infielders, but some combination of arm strength and speed are still considered essential to the position.

    In the Time of Bobby Cox Lang Whitaker 2011

  • That was the total fulfillment of the dream of the little fat girl from Utah, who had sat with her dad on a broken-down couch, basking in the silvery glow of the television in an otherwise empty living room, on that weird little street in that most enchanted of cities—the city where I lived under at least two or three spells before I even got to la-la land.

    Roseanne Archy Roseanne Barr 2011

  • Left field may be the classic place to stash old, broken-down infielders, but some combination of arm strength and speed are still considered essential to the position.

    In the Time of Bobby Cox Lang Whitaker 2011

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