bankruptcy

American  

[bangk-ruhpt-see, -ruhp-see] / ˈbæŋk rʌpt si, -rəp si /

noun

• bankruptcies
  plural

1. the state of being or becoming bankrupt.

2. utter ruin, failure, depletion, or the like.

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bankruptcy British  

/ ˈbæŋkrʌptsɪ, -rəptsɪ /

noun

1. the state, condition, or quality of being or becoming bankrupt

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bankruptcy Cultural  

1. Legally declared insolvency, or inability to pay creditors.

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If an individual or a corporation declares bankruptcy, a court will appoint an official to make an inventory of the individual's or corporation's assets and to establish a schedule by which creditors can be partially repaid what is owed them.

An individual who is lacking a specific resource or quality is sometimes said to be bankrupt, as in intellectually bankrupt or morally bankrupt.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• prebankruptcy
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• bankruptcies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of bankruptcy

First recorded in 1690–1700; bankrupt + -cy

Compare meaning

How does bankruptcy compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• insolvency vs. bankruptcy

Explanation

Bankruptcy is a state of being bankrupt, or having no money to pay back debts that you owe. When you file for bankruptcy, you are giving up all your possessions and declaring, essentially, that you don't have any money left. During the recession, lots of businesses had to file for bankruptcy or declare by law that they were unable to pay off their debts. The ending of the word bankruptcy is a tricky one. Remember that it ends in tcy.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bankruptcy bankruptcies

There are examples in which related-party transactions led to trouble, including the 2001 bankruptcy of Enron Corp., the largest at the time in Wall Street history.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

The surge of cases in Houston turned Jones and Isgur into two of the nation’s busiest bankruptcy judges.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

Two years after Garber became commissioner, he helped save the league from bankruptcy and he’ll leave with the combined value of the league’s 30 teams estimated at $23 billion.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026

Texas law firm Jackson Walker agreed to pay $15 million to settle a civil case from the Justice Department over an ex-partner’s undisclosed romantic relationship with the nation’s former top bankruptcy judge, David R. Jones.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

General Motors was days away from filing for bankruptcy.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

"It will not be possible to redirect the entire harvest to European and other markets," Aramyan told AFP, warning of overproduction, bankruptcies and possible social strain.

From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026

The domestic auto industry consolidation could progress slowly due to price control and local governments’ usual preference to prevent large-scale bankruptcies, they say.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

The Wall Street Journal conducted an analysis last year and found that families have lost at least $190 million in 16 bankruptcies at continuing-care retirement communities, wiping out the savings of more than 1,000 families.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 5, 2026

In his book, “Plunder: Private Equity’s Plan to Pillage America,” Ballou examined large leveraged buyouts and found that many of which resulted in bankruptcies.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026

The various bonds you make from those loans will go bad not as the loans go bad but months later, after a lot of tedious foreclosures and bankruptcies and forced sales.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Related Words

• default
• disaster
• failure
• insolvency
• liquidation
• loss