Buggered

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Extremely tired or drained of energy ; not working properly or damaged ; spoiled or messed up beyond repair
2. Feeling completely worn out and lacking strength ; having a fault that prevents normal function ; having been ruined or badly handled
3. Being utterly fatigued or lacking vitality ; suffering from a breakdown or failure ; rendered ineffective or destroyed

Etymology: The adjective "buggered" is simply the past participle of the verb "bugger" used as an adjective, so its sense of being worn out or ruined grows out of the verb's older meanings. The verb itself has a long and contested history, and it is the source of the adjective's current sense: to be exhausted, damaged or beyond repair. The verb's most familiar meaning, to commit a sexual act, is the one that drives the word's reputation, but in the adjective the intensity is mostly used for general ruin or fatigue, as in a machine that has been run into the ground. Because the adjective is derived directly from the verb rather than from a separate root, its meaning follows the verb's own drift. Speakers who use it for an exhausted person or a broken object are drawing on the same sense of being thoroughly worked over or undone that the verb carries.

Synonyms: messed up, screwed