Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
broken bird

broken bird

8.4
A person who is very hurt inside and finds it hard to trust others
  • noun
  • UK
: alma rota
  • The novel explores the life of a broken bird trying to find hope again.

Examples

  • Sometimes, her fragile smile revealed the broken bird hidden beneath her confidence.

  • Many broken birds find it hard to trust again.

  • After the harsh breakup, he felt like a broken bird, unable to trust anyone.

  • She felt like a broken bird after the breakup.

  • After the traumatic experience, he felt like a broken bird, unable to trust anyone.

  • The emotional toll of the divorce left her a broken bird, searching for comfort and support.

  • Having lost his job and faced financial struggles, he became a broken bird, feeling lost and alone.

Synonyms

broken vessel
vsbroken bird
1 8.9

A person who feels deeply hurt and cannot cope

is emotionally hurt or vulnerable but still able to cope in many situations

Antonyms

whole
∞ 1.0

Complete and not broken or divided

strong
∞ 1.0

Having great physical power or being solid enough to resist force

How Hurt

broken bird
  • UK
8.4

Surface Forms

broken bird singular
broken birds plural

Morphology

broken + bird

The adjective 'broken' directly conveys being emotionally hurt or devastated, and attaching it to an animate noun like 'bird' creates a plausible metaphor of fragility or vulnerability that a learner who knows both words can infer. However, 'broken bird' is a poetic/non-standard collocation rather than a textbook compositional pattern, so the exact nuance is partly metaphorical and not fully predictable without exposure.

Etymology

Broken bird may come from the image of a small bird with a broken wing that cannot fly and looks very weak. That picture helps explain why we call someone who is 'emotionally hurt' or very vulnerable a broken bird.