Word.ws English Dictionary

broken windows

broken windows is the ellipsis of broken windows theory.

broken windows is the ellipsis of broken windows policing.

Meaning of broken windows theory

Proper noun

broken windows theory

  1. A criminological theory stating that signs of urban decay (e.g. broken windows, graffiti, loitering) signal that an area is not monitored, encouraging more destructive criminal behavior.
    • Clark disliked the general state of unshavenness, partly for aesthetic reasons and partly because he was a believer in the broken-windows theory of urban-crime management, the way the appearance of dereliction can pave the way for more serious crimes.2014, Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven, Picador (2022), page 249

Meaning of broken windows policing

Noun

broken windows policing (uncountable)

  1. The practice of assigning police resources to deal with otherwise unattended urban decay, suggested by broken windows theory.

Questions about broken windows

What is broken windows the ellipsis of?
Broken windows is the ellipsis of broken windows theory.

Words near broken windows in the dictionary

  1. broken water
  2. broken wedlock
  3. broken wind
  4. broken window
  5. broken window theory
  6. broken windows
  7. broken windows policing
  8. broken windows theory
  9. broken with
  10. broken with tradition
  11. broken-backed

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: broken windows (page history and authors); broken windows theory (page history and authors); broken windows policing (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “broken windows.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/broken_windows. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.