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PlainSpell

bust

/bʌst/verb, noun, adjective

bust is spelled B-U-S-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,674th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, bust means “To break” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in bust?

Letters4: B-U-S-T
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing11 times per million words; the 6,674th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is bust?

Bust appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,674th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce bust?

  • US /bʌst/
  • /bʊst/
  • Australia /bɐst/

Bust has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-bust.wav, En-us-bust.ogg, En-au-bust.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with bust

Sounds like: bussed (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with bust?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bust from its last stressed vowel (/ʌst/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: stub.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of bust

  • busts present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • busting participle, present
  • busted participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does bust mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    UScolloquialTo break.

    I busted my cooker while trying to fix it.

  2. 2

    slangTo arrest (someone or a group of people) for a crime.

    Aaron got busted by the feds for leaking confidential government documents on Reddit.

  3. 3

    slangTo catch (someone) in the act of doing something wrong, socially and morally inappropriate, or illegal, especially when being done in a sneaky or secretive state.

  4. 4

    slangTo debunk, dispel (a belief).

    We want to bust the myth that real men don't eat quiche.

  5. 5

    An emphatic synonym of do or get.

    He busted huge air off that jump!

  6. 6

    USinformalTo reduce in rank.

    He busted him down to patrolman for insubordination.

  7. 7

    To undo a trade, generally an error trade, that has already been executed.

  8. 8

    To lose all of one's chips.

noun

  1. 1

    slangThe act of arresting someone for a crime, or raiding a suspected criminal operation.

    a narcotics bust

  2. 2

    slangA police raid or takedown of a criminal enterprise.

  3. 3

    slangA failed enterprise; a bomb.

  4. 4

    slangA refutation of an opening, or of a previously published analysis.

  5. 5

    slangA disappointment.

  6. 6

    derogatoryA player who fails to meet expectations.

  7. 7

    The downward portion of a boom and bust cycle; a recession.

  8. 8

    datedslangA spree, unrestrained revel, or wild party.

  9. 9

    A sculptural portrayal of a person's head and shoulders.

  10. 10

    A woman's breasts; the circumference of her chest measured around the breasts.

adjective

  1. 1

    slangWithout any money, broke, bankrupt.

    After months of financial problems, the company finally went bust.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Bust in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchéclater (alteration of ), bouziller, niquer, péter (to break something), attraper, arrêter ((slang) to arrest for a crime)
Germanbersten (alteration of ), zerbrechen, zerstören (to break something), einlochen ((slang) to arrest for a crime), ertappen, erwischen ((slang) to catch someone in the act of doing…)
Spanishreventar (alteration of ), partir (to break something), trincar ((slang) to arrest for a crime), cazar, pillar ((slang) to catch someone in the act of doing…), busto (sculptural portrayal of a person's head and…)
Portuguesebusto (sculptural portrayal of a person's head and…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does bust come from?

From Middle English busten, a variant of bursten, bresten (“to burst”). Compare Low German basten, a variant of barsten (“to burst”). Cognate with burst and bost.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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