Thesaurus article: broken

These adjectives are used for describing something that does not work properly.

If a piece of equipment is not working properly, it is broken or dead. You can also humorously say it is defunct. In other uses, defunct is a more formal word.

In informal UK English, something that is broken is bust, and in informal US English, it is busted.

If a piece of equipment or machinery in a public place is broken, you can say that it is out of order.

If a piece of equipment has broken, you can informally say that it has had it or that it is kaput.

If something only works some of the time, or it is temporarily broken, you can informally say that it's on the blink. In US English you can also say it is on the fritz.