noun
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same as wreck
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the act of wrecking or the state of being wrecked; ruin or destruction
Etymology
Origin of wreckage
Explanation
What's left behind after a destructive accident or disaster is called wreckage. The day after tornadoes sweep through a town, its inhabitants might search the wreckage of their houses for mementoes and valuables. When a bomb goes off, a city floods, or a house burns down, mangled pieces of buildings and cars often remain — wreckage that's a reminder of the catastrophe. After the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank, the wreckage sat on the ocean floor for decades before divers found it. Wreckage comes from wreck, originally "goods washed ashore after a shipwreck."
Vocabulary lists containing wreckage
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -age
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for June 12–June 18, 2021
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Compound Fracture
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As would “Little Bear Ridge Road,” Samuel D. Hunter’s savagely unsentimental study of an estranged aunt and nephew picking through the wreckage of their family history.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026
A big achievement, especially by Michael Carrick, who seamlessly cleared up the wreckage of Ruben Amorim's ill-fated time in charge and took Manchester United back into the Champions League.
From BBC • May 25, 2026
“We’ll be here till tomorrow dealing with this blaze,” said Major Issa Hamdoun, a civil defense commander, as he watched his men manhandling the fire hose into the wreckage of the building.
From Los Angeles Times • May 24, 2026
It took almost two years and multiple search campaigns to find the wreckage and the plane’s black box recorders.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026
She puts it in the bag she brought outta the wreckage with her and then brings the strap of the bag over her head, like her own rucksack.
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
