wreck
Americannoun
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wrecks
plural
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any building, structure, or thing reduced to a state of ruin.
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wreckage, goods, etc., remaining above water after a shipwreck, especially when cast ashore.
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the ruin or destruction of a vessel in the course of navigation; shipwreck.
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a vessel in a state of ruin from disaster at sea, on rocks, etc.
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the ruin or destruction of anything.
the wreck of one's hopes.
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a person of ruined health; someone in bad shape physically or mentally.
The strain of his work left him a wreck.
verb (used with object)
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wrecks,
present (3rd person singular)
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wrecked,
past participle, past
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wrecking
present participle
verb
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to involve in or suffer disaster or destruction
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(tr) to cause the wreck of (a ship)
noun
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the accidental destruction of a ship at sea
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the ship so destroyed
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maritime law goods cast ashore from a wrecked vessel
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a person or thing that has suffered ruin or dilapidation
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the remains of something that has been destroyed
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old-fashioned the act of wrecking or the state of being wrecked; ruin or destruction
Usage
What does wreck mean? To wreck something is to destroy, ruin, or severely damage it. It’s commonly used in the context of the destruction of physical objects, as in He wrecked the car when he hit the tree. Nonphysical things can also be wrecked, as in Tom’s poor planning wrecked his chances of finishing his homework in time to go to baseball practice. Wreck is also commonly used as a noun referring to something that has been destroyed or turned into a ruin, such as a building, as in All that was left of the house after the fire was a burnt wreck. Wreck is often used figuratively to describe a person who is in bad health or who is emotionally or mentally unwell, as in Stress reduces him to a nervous wreck. Wreck is also used in a more specific way to refer to sunken or destroyed ships, as in The diver went to the bottom of the sea to explore the wreck. The word shipwreck means the same thing. The word wreckage refers to the remains of something that has been wrecked. Example: I cried so much at the end of that movie that I was an emotional wreck for the rest of the day.
Synonym Usage
See spoil.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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wrecksimple
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wreckssimple
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have wreckedperfect
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has wreckedperfect
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am wreckingprogressive
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are wreckingprogressive
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is wreckingprogressive
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have been wreckingperfect progressive
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has been wreckingperfect progressive
Past
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wreckedsimple
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had wreckedperfect
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was wreckingprogressive
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were wreckingprogressive
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had been wreckingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wreck
First recorded in 1200–50; (noun) Middle English wrec, wrech, wrek, from Old Danish wrækæ “wreck”; (verb) late Middle English, derivative of the noun
Explanation
A wreck is something that's been destroyed. Your hair might be a wreck after a bad day at the barber. Your car might be a wreck after you hit a telephone pole. Your house might be a wreck after a visit from 3-year-old twins. You might be an emotional wreck after a fight with your boyfriend. A sunken ship is a wreck, or a shipwreck. When you hit that telephone pole, you’ve had a wreck, and you can also call your mangled car a wreck. When you’re next heading out with the car keys, you mom might say, "Don't wreck the car!,” hoping you’ll bring it back in one piece.
Vocabulary lists containing wreck
"Return to Titanic" and "Talking with Robert Ballard"
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Commonly Confused Words, List 3
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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.
See Examples For:
Coissac said he had spoken to one survivor of the wreck who came from the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, where rebels are battling the federal government in a recent flare-up of violence.
From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026
While Linton has not been diagnosed with an underlying seizure disorder, such as epilepsy, defense attorney Jovan Blacknell said Linton suffered intermittent seizures during her life, including at the time of the wreck.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Indeed, I had blocked out most memories of that 2004 Fox reality train wreck until Carr’s documentary reached into my mind’s cobwebby attic and retrieved its cabinet of horrors.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2026
Omar said that he "would have liked to appear before the judge but I do not have the strength. Since the wreck I have the impression that part of me disappeared beneath the waves."
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
From the time the Antikythera wreck was first discovered, those who have seen it firsthand have been impressed with the amount of wreckage and how large the ancient sunken vessel seems to have been.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
There are hundreds of wrecks in the area, and the Mediterranean Archaelogy Association specialises in finding and studying them.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
These machines could map the precise locations of dangerous munitions and help researchers monitor deteriorating wrecks more closely.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
It struck musicians and illustrators, YouTubers and Instagrammers, self-proclaimed anxious wrecks and the freest of spirits.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026
Readers will find engrossing case studies of well-known disasters such as the Titanic and the USS Indianapolis, as well as sections on bygone Viking wrecks and the mysterious “ghost ships” of seafaring lore.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
News of such wrecks was received by islanders with a grim brand of determinism; it seemed to many that such things were ordained by God, or at any rate unavoidable.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
I also don’t want my sister to feel that caring for mom has wrecked her finances.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026
The city's electricity network said its infrastructure is being wrecked.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
With a voice at times bitter, befuddled and bemused at his own wrecked life, Busby emerges as a self-aware, sympathetic survivor who knew his best work came at the beginning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
The art school previously insisted it was committed to a faithful reinstatement of the building, which was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh but wrecked by two fires in 2014 and 2018.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
This is true, so true, but this is still her last thought of her eighteenth birthday: She has wrecked so much for so many people.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
The North Texas coaching staff built an approach that accentuated Mestemaker’s gifts: an arm like a catapult and a frame like a wrecking ball.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
His comments on the sidelines of G20 talks come as Russian and Ukrainian strikes targeting Black Sea ports have been wrecking and idling agricultural export capacity more quickly than trade flows can recover.
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
One rule of thumb in investing is that the older one gets, the more conservative the investment portfolio should be in order to prevent stock-market volatility from wrecking retirement plans.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
“Haughty, hectoring and pleased with herself, she is single-handedly wrecking her hen-pecked husband Gavin’s lofty political ambitions.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
For four years his force wandered through what are now Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana, looking for gold and wrecking most everything it touched.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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