ace ace ace ace sorry for being annoying you said you're gonna answer sasha's broken question bls i wanna know what your characters think
Not annoying at all! I meant to answer sooner but as usual, I got distracted and then forgot. :')
I see the word "broken", in referring to whumpees, as doing whatever is necessary to survive, even if that may defy their moral compass or principles for behaviour. Whether that be obeying the whumper unquestioningly, letting themself become what the whumper wants, saying what others want to hear etc. only to make it out, that's when I would see a character as "broken".
They've essentially broken their convictions for the greater goal of survival but this isn't always permanent. While I think it's possible for people to feel broken, you can't really break a person as much as you might be able to break their resolve. In the end, anybody is capable of healing, given the right environment and how they're treated.
For whumpers, I've never really used broken as an adjective but if I were, I'd probably mean that they were completely detached from any kind of human decency. Like, a void of a person who only acts in their own interest.