Dictionary

broken arrow en · NOUN

Meanings

1. A callout marker that consists of a dashed line with an arrowhead.
   • Note that the uptake of pertechnetate (i.e., darkness) is comparable between the two thyroid lobes (solid arrow) and the salivary glands (broken arrow). 2014, Richard W. Nelson, C. Guillermo Couto, Small Animal Internal Medicine, →ISBN, page 761:
   • A broken arrow A - - -> B indicates that an occasional result of Section A is used in Section B, but that Section B is essentially independent of Section A. 2003, Thomas W. Hungerford, Algebra, →ISBN, page 371:
   • Longitudinal scan of focal thickening and disruption of the median nerve (broken arrow), at the level volar to the distal radius, in keeping with scarring from prior trauma. (F) Sagittal proton density MR image of nonspecific thickening of the 2. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 3. 4. median nerve (broken arrow), with a similar configuration. 2012, Diana Gaitini, Musculoskeletal Ultrasound, An Issue of Ultrasound Clinics, →ISBN:
2. (US, historical) Any of a series of accidental nuclear events in the Cold War, involving nuclear weapons or warheads fallen from aircrafts, which could have triggered a nuclear war.
3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see broken, arrow.

Forms