bro·ken / ˈbrōkən/ past participle of break. • adj. 1. having been fractured or damaged and no longer in one piece or in working order: a broken arm. ∎  rejected, defeated, or despairing: he went to his grave a broken man a broken heart. ∎  sick or weakened: broken health. ∎  (of a relationship) ended, typically by betrayal or faithlessness: a broken marriage. ∎  disrupted or divided: broken families. ∎  (of an agreement or promise) not observed by one of the parties involved.2. having gaps or intervals that break a continuity: a broken white line across the road. ∎  having an uneven and rough surface: broken ground. ∎  (of speech or a language) spoken falteringly and with many mistakes, as by a foreigner: a young man talking in broken Italian. ∎  spoken haltingly, as if overcome by emotion: he whispered in a broken voice.DERIVATIVES: bro·ken·ly adv.bro·ken·ness n.

BROKEN.
1. An informal, non-technical term for a foreigner's limited and ungrammatical use of a language: ‘The skipper asked in broken English for his help’ (Observer, 2 Sept. 1990)
.
2. Also TORRES STRAIT BROKEN. The name given by its speakers to the English-based CREOLE of the Torres Strait islands between Cape York in Australia and Papua New Guinea, known technically as Torres Strait Creole.

broken. Signifies interruption of an element, such as broken arch (usually segmental with its centre filled by a carved motif), broken ashlar (random masonry laid in irregular courses), broken column (with the shaft broken off, symbolizing death, a recurring theme in commemorative art), broken pediment (see pediment), and broken rangework (masonry laid in courses but with blocks of different heights, thus breaking the horizontal joints).

broken broken reed someone not to be relied on; originally often with biblical allusion to Isaiah 36:6.

See also the golden bowl is broken, rules were made to be broken at rule1.