broken-down
/ˌbrəʊk(ə)nˈdaʊn
/adjective
1Worn out and dilapidated by age, use, or ill-treatment: a broken-down shack...
- He told his driver to stop outside a broken-down shack, where an emaciated woman and two young men sat on a porch surrounded by household debris.
- The gamin creates their ideal in spirit when she takes the most broken-down shack and tries to make it ‘home.’
- He said the side of the stadium which had a broken-down security boundary wall had been replaced and that other areas needing attention would also be sorted out.
Synonyms
dilapidated, ramshackle, rickety, tumbledown, run down, worn out, in disrepair, battered, decayed, crumbling, deteriorated, falling to pieces, gone to rack and ruin
informal the worse for wear
1.1(Of a machine or vehicle) not functioning, due to mechanical failure.Lucy Renwick, from Crisicard, said: ‘A crisis means different things to different people from finding a wasps nest in the attic to getting locked out of the house or being miles away from home in a broken-down vehicle.’...
- A Stanway traffic police spokesman said: ‘The traffic congestion had been due to broken-down vehicles.’
- But road safety campaigners and motoring groups expressed concern about the impact on safety, including whether it could become harder to remove broken-down vehicles from lanes.
1.2(Of a horse) with serious damage to the legs, in particular the tendons, caused by excessive strain.We witness the love of a trainer for his boss's wife, of a billionaire for the tantrically adept psychic, of a trainer for a broken-down stallion, of a corrupt owner for money, fame and Jesus....
- It had a peculiar gait, being likened by a nineteenth-century naturalist to ‘a broken-down hack in a canter, apparently dragging the hindquarters after it.’
- During the 1930s three broken down men come together with a broken down horse and inspire a nation that things might look bad but the future can be bright.