Meaning & use
broken record
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Meanings
phrasesingularinformal
Someone who keeps repeating the same statement or request in an annoying way.
Grammar: Used with 'like a': You sound like a broken record. It describes a person, not a thing.
Patterns
- sound like a broken record
- like a broken record
Stop asking me to clean my room — you sound like a broken record.
I know I've said this before, but I don't want to sound like a broken record.
He's like a broken record: every meeting, the same complaint.
phrasesingularinformalfigurative
A statement, song, or topic that is repeated over and over.
Grammar: Often used after 'be' or 'become': The speech became a broken record.
Patterns
- be a broken record
- become a broken record
The radio station played that song until it was a broken record.
His excuses are a broken record — the same three lines every time.
Common combinations
- sound like a broken record
- You sound like a broken record when you keep saying 'be careful'.
- like a broken record
- She repeated the question like a broken record.
- stop being a broken record
- Stop being a broken record and tell me something new.
Synonyms and how they differ
- repetitive
- A general adjective for anything that repeats; broken record is a vivid idiom for a person or statement that repeats annoyingly.
- nag
- To nag is to keep asking or complaining; a broken record is the person who does this, or the repeated statement itself.
Commonly confused: broken record or broken record player?
broken record vs broken record player
A broken record player is a machine that does not work; a broken record is a person who repeats things. Do not mix the two.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'broken record' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The idiom describes a person who repeats something annoyingly. The other options treat it as a physical object, which is not the idiomatic meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “broken record”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.