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Glite Dictionary
broken in

broken in

8 5.2
An animal trained to let people ride or touch it
  • adjective
  • /ˈbroʊkən ɪn/
translation icon : domado
  • The way I see it, we're always broken in one way or another.
  • broken-in boots
  • perfectly broken in

Examples

  • Choosing a broken in horse for beginners is important, as they are easier to handle.

  • After weeks of training, the once wild stallion became a broken in horse, ready for riding.

  • But a horse is a damn sight easier to ride if it's been broken in.

    The Stolen (2017)

  • We can't take him back until he's broken in.

    War Horse (2011)

  • The rider was thrilled to finally get on a broken in horse that followed all his commands.

Synonyms

broken
vsbroken in
  • Specialized
1 5.8

Tamed and trained to obey people

adds acceptance of being ridden rather than only obedience
tamed
vsbroken in
1.8

Made less wild so people can control it

refers to training for obedience or riding rather than general domestication

Antonyms

wild
∞ 1.0

Living in a natural state and not tamed by people

untamed
15 3.8

In a natural state that people do not tame, like wild animals or places

How Tame

well-trained
40 3.7
trained
1.9
broken in
8 5.2
unbroken
1 8.0

Surface Forms

broken in positive

Morphology

broken + in

The meaning 'tamed or trained' comes from the phrasal verb 'break in' and the idea of being made submissive; knowing 'broken' (subdued/damaged) and 'in' (into a state) gives a partial clue but does not fully predict the specialized sense of training an animal. This is a conventionalized, somewhat metaphorical extension, so a B1 learner might infer something related but would likely need exposure to be confident.

Etymology

Broken in comes from horse training. In training, people said a horse was broken in when they had broken its wild ways and taught it to accept a rider, so broken in came to mean 'tamed' or 'trained'.