Definition of "broken" []

• Past participle of break. (verb)
• Forcibly separated into two or more pieces; fractured: a broken arm; broken glass. (adjective)
• Sundered by divorce, separation, or desertion of a parent or parents: children from broken homes; a broken marriage. (adjective)
• Having been violated: a broken promise. (adjective)
• Incomplete: a broken set of books. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Not, only was the iron and the clay broken by the impact, but "the iron, the clay, _the brass, the silver, and the gold_" were "_broken to pieces_ TOGETHER, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors" (verse 35)."
• ""Out of this," says Mr. Wilson, "we coined the phrase 'broken windows,' suggesting public order is a fragile thing, and if you don't fix the first broken window, soon all the windows will be broken.""
• "Mr. Wilson is most famous for the phrase "broken windows," but he is quick to point out that it didn't originate with him."