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Broken vs Scatter - What's the difference?

broken | scatter |

As a proper noun broken

is (derogatory|slang) torres strait creole.

As a verb scatter is

(ergative) to (cause to) separate and go in different directions; to disperse.

broken

English

Verb

(head)

    • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Fragmented, in separate pieces.
  • # Fractured; having the bone in pieces.
  • My arm is broken !
  • the ground was littered with broken bones
  • # (label) Split or ruptured.
  • A dog bit my leg and now the skin is broken .
  • # Dashed, made up of short lines with small gaps between each one and the next.
  • # (label) Interrupted; not continuous.
  • #* (rfdate), , White Fang :
  • Then the circle would lie down again, and here and there a wolf would resume its broken nap.
  • # Five-eighths to seven-eighths obscured by clouds; incompletely covered by clouds.
  • Tomorrow: broken skies.
  • Breeched; violated; not kept.
    • broken''' promises of neutrality'', '''''broken''' vows'', ''the '''broken covenant
  • Non-functional; not functioning properly.
    • I think my doorbell broken .
  • # Disconnected, no longer open or carrying traffic.
  • # Badly designed or implemented.
  • This is the most broken application I've seen in a long time.
  • # Grammatically non-standard, especially as a result of being a non-native speaker.
  • # Not having gone in the way intended; saddening.
  • Oh man! That is just broken !
  • Completely defeated and dispirited; shattered; destroyed.
    • The bankruptcy and divorce, together with the death of his son, left him completely broken .
  • Having no money; bankrupt, broke.
    • (en)
  • (label) Uneven.
  • * 2005 , Will Cook, Until Darkness Disappears , page 54:
    • All that day they rode into broken land. The prairie with its grass and rolling hills was behind them, and they entered a sparse, dry, rocky country, full of draws and short cañons and ominous buttresses.
  • 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.

    Related terms

    * breach

    Derived terms

    * a broken clock is right twice a day * broke * broken home * brokenly * brokenness * broken arrow * broken by design * broken language, broken English * broken heart, brokenhearted * broken in * broken promise * broken wind * heartbroken * housebroken * broken skin

    Statistics

    * English adjectives ending in -en English irregular past participles

    scatter

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (ergative) To (cause to) separate and go in different directions; to disperse.
    • the police scattered the crowds
    the crowd scattered
  • * Shakespeare
    • Scatter and disperse the giddy Goths.
  • To distribute loosely as by sprinkling.
    • Her ashes were scattered at the top of a waterfall.
  • * Dryden
    • Why should my muse enlarge on Libyan swains, / Their scattered cottages, and ample plains?
  • (physics) To deflect (radiation or particles).
  • To occur or fall at widely spaced intervals.
  • To frustrate, disappoint, and overthrow.
    • to scatter hopes or plans

    Derived terms

    * scatterbrain * scatterplot * scattershot