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

The drummer and sometimes singer from the Band, a group that backed Bob Dylan for a time and had its own star-studded farewell concert captured on film by Martin Scorsese, had declared bankruptcy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026

If the restructuring went ahead, it would be the largest in the history of the automotive industry, eclipsing the 50,000 job cuts General Motors made after it declared bankruptcy in 2009.

From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026

The mattress maker filed for bankruptcy last month, reaching a deal to be acquired by Sleep Country Canada for nearly $702 million, around $530 million of which is in cash.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

Beverly Hills-based Fat Brands Inc. said in a statement that it filed for bankruptcy on Monday to restructure the debt it accumulated while expanding its company portfolio, citing ‘difficult and largely unforeseen’ market conditions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

Over the course of ten years, they went from wealthy to filing for bankruptcy.

From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson

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

With bankruptcies doubling in the past year, median farm income is trending downward, and roughly 90% of family-owned farms and ranches rely on alternative sources of income to survive.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 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

After two bankruptcies, and a failed attempt to secure another government bailout, Spirit shut down.

From Barron's ● May 8, 2026

From January to June 2007, the news from the pool—its delinquencies, its bankruptcies, its house foreclosures—had remained fairly consistent.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Related Words

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