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broken record

broken record

14 4.9
A person who keeps saying the same thing until others get annoyed
  • noun
  • /ˈbroʊkən ˈrɛkərd/
  • Offensive
translation icon : disco rayado
  • At the meeting, he sounded like a broken record, going on about the same issues again and again.
  • sound like a broken record
  • feel like a broken record
  • same old broken record

So, you know, again, like a broken record.

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Examples

  • I hate to sound like a broken record, but talk to people under 30.

    Blog text (12)
  • It's beginning to sound like a broken record.

  • God, I sound like a broken record tonight.

  • - You are like a broken record.

  • -You sound like a broken record.

  • You sound like a broken record.

  • You know, you sound like a broken record.

  • I feel like a broken record.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • I think I'm starting to sound like a broken record.

    Blog text (4)
  • And I know I sound like a broken record, but the thing that he's got to do first and foremost is is change the culture, bring a new culture and drive it.

Synonyms

repeater
vsbroken record
2 4.6

A person who does the same thing again and again

is more specific to repeated speech that becomes annoying
stuck record
vsbroken record
  • Informal
1 7.4

A person who repeats the same thing until it becomes annoying

has identical meaning but serves as the general descriptive term
reiterant
vsbroken record
9.6

Someone or something that repeats the same words to make them clear

is more negative, focusing on annoying repeated speech

Antonyms

2.8

Not a copy and existing as the first form

A new way of looking at something that helps you see it differently

How Repetitive

broken record
  • Offensive
14 4.9
nag
  • Offensive
10 6.7
repetition
  • Literature
10 3.2
one-off
8 5.6

Surface Forms

broken record singular

Morphology

broken + record

The idiom arises from the image of a physically damaged (broken) phonograph record that gets stuck and repeats the same passage, so there is a recognizable metaphorical link between the literal constituents and the idiomatic meaning. However, understanding this requires cultural/technological background (knowledge of vinyl records and their behaviour), so a B1 learner who only knows the literal words may not reliably derive the meaning without prior exposure.

Etymology

The phrase broken record may come from old music records. When a record was scratched or the needle got stuck, the same part would play again and again, like someone saying one line over and over. That's why we call someone a 'broken record' when they keep repeating the same thing and are 'annoying'.