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

This isn’t a repeat of Hurricane Irma’s lashing at the concrete marker that led to a month-long closing in September and October 2017 so that the original artists Danny Acosta and Henry Del Valle could do emergency repairs and repaint the battered buoy. —Howard Cohen, Miami Herald, 5 June 2025

It’s been nearly 11 months since Paramount agreed to be sold to Skydance in an $8-billion deal that would inject $1.5 billion in capital into Paramount’s battered balance sheet. —Meg James, Los Angeles Times, 2 June 2025

But the dire economic situation and battered infrastructure have also dissuaded many refugees from coming back. —Arkansas Online, 1 June 2025

The Indiana Pacers had the Knicks cornered — overwhelmed, battered and desperate. —C.j. Holmes, New York Daily News, 30 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1593, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing battered

• battered child syndrome
• battered woman syndrome

Rhymes for battered

• backscattered
• chattered
• clattered
• flattered
• mattered
• pattered
• scattered
• shattered
• spattered
• splattered
• tattered