battered

adjective

bat·​tered ˈba-tərd 

1

: damaged or worn down by hard use

a battered old hat

a battered truck

2

: injured by repeated blows

the victim's battered body

a boxer's battered face

3

: subjected to repeated physical abuse

providing help for battered wives/children

… the store turned into an impromptu women's crisis center, where battered women and mothers trying to rescue their daughters from abusive dads gravitated.

—Donna Minkowitz

Examples of battered in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The pre-dawn attack ruptured a water main near the city center, sending water cascading through the streets around the battered facade of the Lukianivska subway station. —Cassandra Vinograd, New York Times, 18 Jan. 2025

These firefighters nonetheless have emerged bruised, battered, beaten. —Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell, Newsweek, 16 Jan. 2025

Getting more planes out the factory doors and into airlines’ hands is crucial to Boeing’s battered finances, since that is when the company gets most of the money from the sale of a plane. —Chris Isidore, CNN, 14 Jan. 2025

That perseverance paid off, as the Buccaneers enter Week 18 in control of their playoff fate and as massive favorites against a battered New Orleans team. —J.j. Bailey, The Athletic, 5 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1593, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing battered

• battered child syndrome
• battered woman syndrome