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

He noted that he believed Merit Street was already “dead as a doornail when the bankruptcy was filed,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026

They discuss the ins and outs of government debt, the idea of state bankruptcy, and what lessons can be learned for future legislation.

From Slate ● Oct. 12, 2026

The FTX bankruptcy estate sold its stake in Anthropic for $1.3 billion in 2024.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

True Food Kitchen has also filed first-day motions seeking court approval to continue operations during the bankruptcy process, including paying employee wages and benefits.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

At the time of the divorce the Blooms had been eighty-three thousand dollars in the hole; there followed bankruptcy declarations and a substantial loss of valuable suburban property.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

Farm bankruptcies jumped 46 percent from 2024 to 2025, with the Midwest outpacing other regions, on lower revenue and rising expenses.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

He predicted a wave of farm bankruptcies in Russia in the coming months.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

The number of personal bankruptcies filed annually fell sharply for more than a decade before the recent uptick, hitting a low of about 368,000 in 2022, down from about 1.5 million in 2010.

From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026

The state is reluctant to fill the void left by federal funding after a series of bankruptcies and cancellations left only one truck maker and one bus maker selling hydrogen vehicles in North America.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 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