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In various internet contexts and games, being "broken" means that you/something somewhat defy common sense by being stupidly powerful. Is there a more "proper" word that is equivalent to "broken"?

ie:

That sword was so broken because it killed everyone in one hit.

Is there a certain word that can take the place of "broken" in the sentence without changing how the sentence is structured?

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  • (Really? You call something broken if it is "stupidly powerful"? Like ill means "way cool/totally bitchin'"? That's a new one that should definitely be reported to the OED. ) That being the case, overpowered could NOT possibly be a synonym. Overpowering might be. Oh, I get it, you use those backwards too! I guess I need to pay less attention to actual English, and more to the Alice in Wonderland of gamespeak, in which anything can mean the opposite of what it means in English. May 3, 2015 at 8:31
  • In my experience, "broken" would refer to the physics of the game being broken, rather than that an object was necessarily overpowered. So if a bazooka did little damage, or a handgun blew holes in walls, the weapon could be said to be "broken". Hence, it does indeed mean something that defies common sense, but not necessarily in the sense of being stupidly powerful. I've put this in a comment rather than an answer as I don't have an answer to the actual question itself. May 3, 2015 at 9:32

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In gaming contexts, the most common and appropriate term is overpowered, often abbreviated to OP.

From the Wikipedia article on balance in gaming, for example:

Overpowered

Overpowered (often abbreviated to OP) is a common term referring to a perceived lack of game balance. It is often used when describing a specific class in an RPG, a specific faction in strategic games, or a specific tactic, ability, weapon or unit in various games. For something to be deemed overpowered, it is either the best choice in a disproportionate number of situations (marginalising other choices) and/or excessively hard to counter by the opponent compared to the effort required to use it.

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