different between broken vs knackered

English

Etymology

From Middle English broken, from Old English brocen, ?ebrocen, from Proto-Germanic *brukanaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic *brekan? (“to break”). Cognate with Dutch gebroken (“broken”), German Low German broken (“broken”), German gebrochen (“broken”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: br?k'?n, IPA^(key): /?b???k?n/
• Rhymes: -??k?n

Verb

broken

1. past participle of break

Adjective

broken (comparative more broken, superlative most broken)

1. Fragmented, in separate pieces.
   1. (of a bone or body part) Fractured; having the bone in pieces.

   2. (of skin) Split or ruptured.

   3. (of a line) Dashed, made up of short lines with small gaps between each one and the next.
   4. (of sleep) Interrupted; not continuous.
      • 1906, Jack London, White Fang:

        Then the circle would lie down again, and here and there a wolf would resume its broken nap.

   5. (meteorology, of the sky) Five-eighths to seven-eighths obscured by clouds; incompletely covered by clouds.

   6. (of a melody) having periods of silence scattered throughout; not regularly continuous.
2. (of a promise, etc) Breached; violated; not kept.

3. Non-functional; not functioning properly.
   1. (of an electronic connection) Disconnected, no longer open or carrying traffic.
   2. (software, informal) Badly designed or implemented.

   4. (of language) Grammatically non-standard, especially as a result of being produced by a non-native speaker.
   5. (colloquial, US, of a situation) Not having gone in the way intended; saddening.

4. (of a person) Completely defeated and dispirited; shattered; destroyed.

5. Having no money; bankrupt, broke.

   (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

6. (of land) Uneven.
7. (sports and gaming, of a tactic or option) Overpowered; overly powerful; too powerful.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "broken" is often applied: glass, vase, cup, mirror, window, bone, wing, leg, arm, hand, foot, heart, egg, tool, sword, column, road, bridge, stick, device, machine, camera, TV, car, computer, promise, vow, law, trust, dream, relationship, friendship, love, family, marriage, bond, tie, silence, ground, land, circle, image, language, spirit, soul.

Synonyms

• (fragmented—bone, objects et al): burst, split; see also Thesaurus:broken
• (fragmented—line, sleep et al): intermittent, spasmodic; see also Thesaurus:discontinuous
• (not kept): violated
• (non-functional): borked, malfunctioning; see also Thesaurus:out of order
• (completely defeated): rekt
• (having no money): destitute, skint; see also Thesaurus:impoverished
• (uneven land):
• (overpowered): OP, unbalanced

Hyponyms

• heartbroken
• housebroken
• jailbroken

Derived terms

• brokenhearted, broken-hearted
• Broken Hill
• brokenly
• brokenness
• unbroken

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• broken at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Borken, bonker, borken

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?næk.?d/

Etymology 1

From the verb knacker.

Adjective

knackered (comparative more knackered, superlative most knackered)

1. (Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang) Tired or exhausted.
   • 2002, Robert Edenborough, Effective Interviewing: A Handbook of Skills and Techniques, pages 97-98

     I've got this job in a warehouse just now and it finishes quite early but I'm dead knackered at the end of the day so I don't know about going out and like studying every night.

   • 2003, Hugh Dauncey, Geoff Hare (editors), The Tour de France, 1903-2003: A Century of Sporting Structures, Meanings and Values, Frank Cass Publishers, London, 2005, page 225,

     Then, it all just gets worse and worse, you don't sleep so much, so you don't recover as well from the day's racing, so you go into your reserves, you get more knackered, so you sleep less... It's simply a vicious circle.

   • 2009, Grace Maxwell, Falling & Laughing: The Restoration of Edwyn Collins, page 84,

     So my joy at hearing his voice quickly turns to a paroxysm of anxiety as he manages by exhausted gesture and sound to let us know how knackered he feels, how desperate to get horizontal, almost from the first moment he lands in the chair.

Synonyms

• (tired, exhausted): cream crackered; See also Thesaurus:fatigued

Derived terms

• cream crackered (Cockney rhyming slang)
• Kerry Packered (Cockney rhyming slang)

Translations

Verb

knackered

1. simple past tense and past participle of knacker

Etymology 2

From "ready for the knacker's yard" or "fit to be knackered", meaning "worn-out livestock, fit to be slaughtered and rendered".

Adjective

knackered (comparative more knackered, superlative most knackered)

1. (Britain, Ireland, South Africa, colloquial) Broken, inoperative.
   • 2009, John Newton, Vance Miller - Kitchen Gangster?, page 82

     We take an old knackered machine out to China and say, 'Copy that, brand new,' and they do.

Synonyms

• (broken, inoperative): broken, worn-out; See also Thesaurus:out of order

Translations

Related terms

• knacker
• knacker's yard