broken something that is broken has become separated into pieces, for example by being hit or dropped:
The floor was covered in broken glass. This suitcase is no good – the handle’s broken. The birds had gotten into the cabin through a broken window. In the corner of the room were a broken chair and a rickety old desk.out of order [not before noun] if a machine, especially one used by the public, is out of order, it is not working for a temporary period:
Every phone I tried was out of order. The toilets were all out of order.down [not before noun] if a computer system is down, it is not working:
The computer system was down all afternoon, so we went home. ⇒
go down (=stop working):
The network went down at 11:00 and we lost the whole morning’s work.on the blink (
also on the fritz American English)
[not before noun] informal if a piece of electrical equipment is on the blink, it sometimes works and sometimes does not:
My TV’s on the blink again. ⇒
go on the blink/fritz:
The car’s air conditioning went on the fritz just as we reached Dallas.there’s something wrong with something used when saying that a car, machine etc does not work properly and you do not know why:
There’s something wrong with my car; I think it might be the battery. There was something wrong with the photocopier, so we called in the service company. ⇒
have something wrong with it:
If the VCR has something wrong with it, take it back to the store.something has had it informal used when saying that a car, machine etc is completely broken and cannot be repaired:
I’m afraid the bike’s had it. [TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲