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PlainSpell

busted

/ˈbʌs.tɪd/adjective, verb

busted is spelled B-U-S-T-E-D: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 5.9 times per million words in written English, the 10,028th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, busted means “Having a certain type of bust (breasts; cleavage)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in busted?

Letters6: B-U-S-T-E-D
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing5.9 times per million words; the 10,028th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is busted?

Busted appears 5.9 times per million words in written English, the 10,028th 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 busted?

  • /ˈbʌs.tɪd/
  • /ˈbʌs.təd/

Busted has 2 syllables (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: En-au-busted.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of busted

  • more busted comparative
  • most busted superlative

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

What does busted mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    Having a certain type of bust (breasts; cleavage).

  2. 2

    slangBroke; having no money.

    I'd like to help you, but I'm busted.

  3. 3

    slangCaught in the act of doing something one shouldn't do.

    I saw you take that cookie from the cookie jar! You're busted!

  4. 4

    slangExtremely ugly.

    She was cute, but all her friends were busted.

  5. 5

    slangTired.

  6. 6

    slangBroken.

  7. 7

    slangExtremely overpowered.

verb

  1. 1

    simple past and past participle of bust (a form of bust)

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

Busted in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfauché (having no money), pincé, pris la main dans le sac, pris sur le fait (caught in the act), bouzillé (broken)
Germanpleite (having no money), erwischt, geschnappt, aufgeflogen (caught in the act)
Portugueseflagrado (caught in the act)

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 busted come from?

See bust (Etymology 2)

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

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