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Glite Dictionary
Broken Britain

Broken Britain

7.5
A way to describe serious social and economic problems in the United Kingdom
  • noun
  • Literature
translation icon : Gran Bretaña rota
  • Public debates frequently reference Broken Britain when discussing youth unemployment and social unrest.

What used to be the British Empire is now broken Britain.

Examples

  • Many newspapers have run stories about the rise of crime in Broken Britain.

  • The opposition leader blamed government policies for the problems facing Broken Britain.

  • Many believe that Broken Britain is a result of poor government policies.

  • The term Broken Britain has been widely discussed in media.

  • Many newspapers have run stories about the rise of crime and social issues in Broken Britain.

  • Public debates frequently cite Broken Britain to highlight the challenges of poverty and moral decline.

  • The opposition leader emphasized the urgent need for reform to address the crisis in Broken Britain.

Antonyms

prosperous
83 4.1

Doing well and having a lot of money

thriving
6 3.8

Growing and very successful, like a busy café or arts scene

Surface Forms

Broken Britain singular
Broken Britains plural

Morphology

broken + Britain

The adjective 'broken' applied to 'Britain' is a metaphorical extension of the literal sense and a B1 learner who knows both words will likely infer that the country is in a damaged or very bad state. However, the phrase functions as a political slogan with broader social and policy connotations that are not fully predictable from the constituents, so comprehension is partial rather than fully compositional.

Etymology

Broken Britain may come from a simple picture: the country seen as something broken, like a cracked house or a machine that no longer works. Newspapers and politicians used that image to describe 'serious social and economic problems', so today Broken Britain means a country with big social and economic troubles.