What does busted mean?
Busted is an informal English adjective with three main senses: something that is broken or not working, someone who has been caught doing wrong or arrested by the police, and (chiefly in American usage) a person who has completely run out of money. Its most familiar everyday use is casual and physical — 'the remote is busted' — while its criminal sense carries the flavor of crime dramas and playground tattling alike: 'he got busted'. The money sense evokes gambling tables and empty pockets. The word derives from 'bust', itself a variant of 'burst', so its core idea has always been sudden breakage. Because it is strongly colloquial, busted suits conversation, journalism, fiction, and humor far better than formal or technical writing, where 'damaged', 'broken', or 'arrested' would be preferred. Its punchiness and versatility have made it a durable fixture of modern informal speech on both sides of the Atlantic.
Broken, damaged, or not working properly.
"We couldn't watch the match because the TV was busted."
Informal; avoid in formal writing.
Caught doing something illegal or forbidden; arrested.
"He was busted trying to sneak into the concert without a ticket."
Having no money left; broke.
"After paying rent I'm completely busted until payday."
Chiefly North American informal.
Past tense and past participle of bust: to break or smash something, or (of police) to catch or arrest someone.
"They busted the smuggling ring after months of investigation."
Informal; standard past forms of 'burst' are preferred in careful writing.
Busted started as slang for 'burst' and ended up as the word every cop show uses when the handcuffs come out — one little suffix turned a sound of shattering into a sound of sirens.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of busted
Busted comes from 'bust', a 19th-century American colloquialism that arose as a variant pronunciation of 'burst', meaning to break suddenly or violently. Adding the participial ending '-ed' produced an adjective describing things that had been broken or people who had been ruined financially. From there the word developed its slang senses: being caught by authorities and being penniless. It belongs to the same broad family as 'burst', whose Germanic root conveys the idea of violent breaking apart.
Related word forms
How busted is actually used
Highly informal register — inappropriate for formal writing. In American English it very commonly implies being caught red-handed or arrested ('He got busted for speeding'), while the 'out of money' sense ('I'm busted until payday') is distinctly American. The neutral adjective use for damaged objects ('the TV is busted') is widespread in casual speech across varieties.
Easily confused with busted
Burst is the verb describing something suddenly breaking open, while busted describes something that is already broken or someone who has been caught.
Rusty refers to corrosion from oxidation, whereas busted refers to something broken, non-functional, or a person who has been caught.