broker than the Ten Commandments

adjective

Extremely impoverished.

Similar
impoverished
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Meanings

adjectivebroker than the Ten Commandments (comparative form only)
  1. comparative onlydatedhumoroussimileExtremely impoverished.

    I needed money—Dad would have said I was broker than the Ten Commandments—so I went to get my old job back...

    2018, Tara Westover, Educated

    Synonyms: impoverished

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveExtremely impoverished.

Similar
impoverished
Also see
bankruptbrokebrokenclose to the bonedestituteemptyhandedgoodlesshard upimpoverishedindigentmoneylesspennilesspenuriouspoorpoor as a church mousepoverty-strickenskintstonystuckthreadbare

Origin

A pun on the sense of broke 'without money' and broken, with potential reference both to Moses' destruction ('breaking') of the tablets on Mount Sinai (Exodus 32:19) and sinners' violation ('breaking') of the Ten Commandments in daily life.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

broker than the Ten Commandments. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/broker%20than%20the%20Ten%20Commandments

MLA

“broker than the Ten Commandments.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/broker%20than%20the%20Ten%20Commandments. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “broker than the Ten Commandments,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/broker%20than%20the%20Ten%20Commandments.

Source: broker than the Ten Commandments on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.