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.

---

bankruptcy British  

/ ˈbæŋkrʌptsɪ, -rəptsɪ /

noun

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

---

bankruptcy Cultural  

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

---

Discover More

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

Some of those investments have tumbled further in recent weeks: Optimum is nearing a potential chapter 11 and Brightspeed is weighing a bankruptcy filing by year-end, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported earlier.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

Jauregui met with a bankruptcy attorney for advice that fall.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

Creditors in more than half of those cases included companies offering MCAs, according to an analysis of bankruptcy filings by The Wall Street Journal.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

The firm plans to dissolve without filing for bankruptcy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

Everywhere you looked someone was filing for bankruptcy, or throwing his belongings into a U-Haul to find another job up in the rustbelt or snowbelt or crimebelt from which he thought he had escaped.

From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger

A Wall Street Journal analysis found that more than half of the federal bankruptcies filed by small businesses in the first nine months of 2026 owed money to companies that issue MCAs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

Even as record diesel prices have triggered a wave of trucking bankruptcies, driving diesel-free vehicles has turned out to be more expensive than expected.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026

His surname became synonymous with big-money deals, success and opulence despite a string of bankruptcies, casino closures and failed direct-to-consumer businesses.

From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2026

It was marked by a glut of unused fiber, a collapse in prices, frozen venture markets, massive bankruptcies, widespread job losses and a recession.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 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

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

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

---