Meaning & use
brokenness
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Meanings
noununcountable
The state of being damaged, not working, or in pieces.
Grammar: Never plural: the brokenness of the system.
Patterns
- the brokenness of something
The brokenness of the old elevator frustrated everyone in the building.
Engineers measured the brokenness of the bridge supports.
The photo showed the brokenness of the window frame.
noununcountablefigurative
A feeling or condition of deep emotional pain, failure or damage in a person, relationship or society.
Grammar: Used figuratively, often with of: the brokenness of the world.
Patterns
- feel a sense of brokenness
- the brokenness of something
Her poems explore grief and brokenness.
He admitted a sense of brokenness after the divorce.
The novel shows the brokenness of a town without jobs.
Common combinations
- a sense of brokenness
- A sense of brokenness hung over the family.
- the brokenness of the system
- Many voters pointed to the brokenness of the system.
- human brokenness
- The play deals with human brokenness and hope.
- acknowledge brokenness
- Healing starts when you acknowledge brokenness.
Synonyms and how they differ
- damage
- It focuses on harm done and is more concrete, whereas brokenness names a lasting state.
- dysfunction
- It refers to something not working properly, usually a system or relationship, and is more clinical.
- fragility
- It means being easily broken, rather than already broken.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: brokenness or breakage?
brokenness vs breakage
Breakage is the act of breaking or the damaged item, whereas brokenness is the ongoing state or feeling.
Practice
The novel's theme is the ___ of families that have lost their homes.
Choose one answer.
Brokenness is the abstract state of being damaged or in pain, which fits a theme. Breakage means a physical act of breaking and sounds odd for families.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “brokenness”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.