BROKE Synonyms: 659 Similar and Opposite Words

broke 1 of 2

adjective

Definition of broke

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

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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as in ended

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

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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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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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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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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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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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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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as in damaged

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

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as in died

to stop functioning after working for 30 years, the pump simply broke one day

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started (up)

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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as in wore

to use up all the physical energy of the trek up the mountain just about broke me

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as in circulated

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

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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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as in began

to come into existence the crisis had passed, and a new day was breaking

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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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straightened

as in reduced

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

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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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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

The Seminoles haven’t really been the same since QB Jordan Travis broke his leg late in that magical 2023 season. — Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, 26 Aug. 2026 In addition to claims that Meta broke state consumer protection laws, the states accused Meta of violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting data about children under the age of 13. — John Ruwitch, NPR, 26 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for broke

Recent Examples of Synonyms for broke

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

Reuters said March and April reports of impending layoffs and Meta tracking employees’ keyboard and mouse input in order to train AI agents (Meta has since paused the program) hurt employee morale.

— Scharon Harding, ArsTechnica, 26 Aug. 2026
Some areas have paused data center expansion Stroy’s fields are just outside Murdock, a village named for a railroad official at the company that first laid tracks here in the 1890s.

— Will Weissert, Fortune, 26 Aug. 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

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broils

broke

broke bread

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Style

“Broke.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/broke. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of broke

adjective

verb

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