Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use bust in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun, adjective

Bust means to break. Example: “I busted my cooker while trying to fix it.”

Examples of bust by meaning

verbTo break.

  • I busted my cooker while trying to fix it.

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

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

verbTo debunk, dispel (a belief).

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

verbAn emphatic synonym of do or get.

  • He busted huge air off that jump!

verbTo reduce in rank.

  • He busted him down to patrolman for insubordination.
  • If Steinkamp doesn't take off that hat and stop messing around, I'm gonna bust him into a PFC.1962, The Manchurian Candidate, 01:56:35

verbTo have sex with (a woman or girl) for the first time, to take another's virginity.

  • You can bust her too."2014, Tison Pugh, Truman Capote: A Literary Life at the Movies, page 127

verbFor a headline to exceed the amount of space reserved for it.

  • The temptation to squeeze in a favourite headline that busts by using the flexibility of new technology is often very strong.1990, Paul Williams, The Computerized Newspaper: A Practical Guide for Systems Users, page 105
  • If your headline busts (breaks the confines of the layout) you will know straightaway.2007, Rob Steen, Sports Journalism: A Multimedia Primer, page 167

verbTo refute an established opening.

  • So is the King's Gambit really busted?2012 April 2, Frederic Friedel, “Rajlich: Busting the King's Gambit, this time for sure”, in ChessBase

More sentences with bust

  • I saw you take that cookie from the cookie jar! You're busted!From the entry busted
  • I thought I'd draw another spade, but I ended up with a busted flush.From the entry busted flush
  • I've been busting my chops to get this out by end of day.From the entry bust one's chops
  • What you looking at me like that for? C'mon man, bust a move if you're feeling froggy.From the entry bust a move
  • They tried to bust the prisoner out, but were thwarted by the police.From the entry bust out
  • They decided it was time to bust out the good hooch.From the entry bust out
  • I had to really bust a gut to get it done by the deadline.From the entry bust a gut
  • Something about the way he said that made me just bust a gut: I practically died laughing!From the entry bust a gut
  • After I scrub the floor, I'm going to bust the dust.From the entry bust the dust
  • I'd like to help you, but I'm busted.From the entry busted
  • They were the jetsam of the dot-com bust.From the entry jetsam
  • Nice transportation, dude, but your brake lights are busted.From the entry transportation
  • The boss has been busting chops all day.From the entry bust chops
  • The boss busted our chops all week.From the entry bust chops
  • Can you tell me where the toilets are? I'm busting.From the entry busting
  • The kid is busting to go to the toilet.From the entry busting
  • It's time to go. Let's bust a move.From the entry bust a move
  • Unless we find a million pounds by Monday, the company will go bust. We really are in the last chance saloon.From the entry last chance saloon
  • Liz, I busted my neck getting you those votes!From the entry bust one's neck
  • Several thousand companies go bust in the UK each year.From the entry go bust
  • I'll bust him down until he cries.From the entry bust down
  • You better be careful, cuz he could bust off anytime.From the entry bust off
  • They busted in the jail to find the accused man.From the entry bust in
  • He busted out an ancient no-fidelity tabletop radio and proceeded to play some tinny music from the AM dial.From the entry no fidelity
  • An Empire-style dress has a high waistline – directly under the bust – from which the dress falls all the way to a hem as low as the floor.From the entry fall
  • Actually busting me out.” “I think that would've been way harder.”2022 July 8, Logan Ritchey & David Reed, “The Instant White-Hot Wild” (16:17 from the start), in The Boys, season 3, episode 8, spoken by…. From the entry LGBTeen
  • Christmas dinner is stressful enough without busting out recipes you’ve never made before.2021 December 21, Anna Berrill, “Final magic touches to zhoosh your Christmas lunch”, in The Guardian. From the entry zhoosh
  • Ripping sheets from beds and tearing at them and kicking over nightstands and busting mirrors.2021, Michael Farris Smith, chapter 56, in Nick, New York; Boston; London: Little, Brown and Company, page 275. From the entry tear at
  • While everyone else had been playing checkers, Pannenkoek busted out the 4D chess.2021 September 19, Bismuth [pseudonym; Gabriel Girard], 2:06 from the start, in The History of the A Button Challenge - Part 2: The…. From the entry 4D chess
  • Carlin also got arrested at one of comedian Lenny Bruce’s obscenity busts.2020 July 24, Dennis Simanaitis, “CELEBRATING GEORGE CARLIN”, in Simanaitis Says, archived from the original on 16 May 2022. From the entry carlin

Meaning of bust

  1. verb To break.
  2. verb To arrest (someone or a group of people) for a crime.
  3. verb To 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.

Full definition of bust

Questions about bust in a sentence

How do you use bust in a sentence?
Bust is used as a verb, noun and adjective. For example: “I busted my cooker while trying to fix it.”
What is a short sentence with bust?
“You can bust her too."”
What does bust mean?
Bust means to break.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bust (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use bust in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/bust. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.