English Explanatory Dictionary

wreck

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Something or someone that has been ruined.
  2. The remains of something that has been severely damaged or worn down.
  3. An event in which something is damaged through collision.
  4. A shipwreck: an event in which a ship is heavily damaged or destroyed.
  5. Goods, etc. cast ashore by the sea after a shipwreck.
  6. A large number of birds that have been brought to the ground, injured or dead, by extremely adverse weather.
verb
  1. To destroy violently; to cause severe damage to something, to a point where it no longer works, or is useless.
  2. To ruin or dilapidate.
  3. To plunder goods from wrecked ships.
  4. To dismantle wrecked vehicles or other objects, to reclaim any useful parts.
  5. To involve in a wreck; hence, to cause to suffer ruin; to balk of success, and bring disaster on.
  6. To be involved in a wreck; to be damaged or destroyed.

Pronunciation

rĕk /ˈɹɛk/ en-us-wreck.ogg răk /ˈɹæk/

Word forms

wreck wrecks wrecking wrecked

Etymology

From Middle English wrek, from Anglo-Norman wrek, from Old Norse *wrek (Norwegian and Icelandic rek, Swedish vrak, Danish vrag), from Proto-Germanic *wrekaną, whence also Old English wrecan (English wreak), Old High German rehhan, Old Saxon wrekan, Gothic 𐍅𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (wrikan).

Synonyms

crash ruins basket case, mess

Antonyms

build construct make produce

Derived words

car wreck catch wreck nerve-wreck nervous wreck shipwreck train wreck wreck car wreck grab wreck havoc wreck of the Hesperus wreck shop wreck yard bewreck check yourself before you wreck yourself wreckage wrecker wreck the hoose juice

Translations

Arabic: تَصَادُّم Bulgarian: ава́рия Chinese Mandarin: 碰撞 Dutch: botsing Finnish: törmäys Finnish: yhteentörmäys Finnish: kolari French: accident German: Zusammenstoß Hebrew: גרוטאה White Hmong: tsoo Hungarian: karambol Italian: collisione Italian: disastro Japanese: 衝突 Korean: 충돌 Macedonian: хава́рија Portuguese: choque Romanian: accident Romanian: avarie Romanian: coliziune Russian: ава́рия Spanish: choque Spanish: desastre Spanish: accidente Spanish: siniestro Spanish: colisión Spanish: paletazo Swedish: sammanstötning Swedish: krock Swedish: krasch
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on W Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary