broken spirit
Will to surrender
A broken spirit is a state of deep emotional defeat—the will to resist or hope crushed by suffering, failure, or prolonged hardship.
Unlike mere sadness, it suggests something fundamental has given way: Years of abuse left her with a broken spirit.
The phrase often appears in religious contexts, where a broken spirit may be seen as humble surrender before God, or in descriptions of people ground down by circumstance: Prison didn't just punish him—it broke his spirit.
- crushedCompressed into fragments
- defeatedOvercome in contest
- shatteredBroken into fragments
- giving upChoosing to stop trying
- white flagSignal of capitulation
hopeless · despair · at wit's end · rock bottom · weary · soul · dark night of the soul · worn · worn down · dejected · hollow · empty · dead inside · resigned · downtrodden · beaten · surrender · grief
- despairdespair, hopelessness, desolation, despondency, dejection
- spiritual afflictionsdemonic possession, apostasy, backsliding, damnation, defilement
- weakened thingsweak link, thin ice, brittle bone, worn tread, dying ember
- sadnesssad, unhappy, grief, sorrowful, heartbroken
- offeringsburnt offering, altar offerings, sin offering, peace offering, oblations
- disillusionmentdisillusionment, disenchantment, disillusion, lost innocence, lost faith
broken spiritunbreakable spirit
iron will · strong will · resilience · fortitude · inner strength
broken spirithigh spirits
Lively, cheerful state
joie de vivre · zest for life · exuberance · enthusiasm · optimism
broken spiritfighting spirit
Determined will to persevere
rebellious spirit · unconquered · unbowed · defiance · resistance
broken, spirit, breaks, breaking, broke, unbroken, breakage, spirits, spirited