shipwreck
Americannoun
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the destruction or loss of a ship, as by sinking.
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the remains of a wrecked ship.
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destruction or ruin.
the shipwreck of one's hopes.
verb (used with object)
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to cause to suffer shipwreck.
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to destroy; ruin.
verb (used without object)
noun
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the partial or total destruction of a ship at sea
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a wrecked ship or part of such a ship
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ruin or destruction
the shipwreck of all my hopes
verb
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to wreck or destroy (a ship)
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to bring to ruin or destruction
Etymology
Origin of shipwreck
before 1100; Middle English shipwrech remains of a shipwreck; ship 1, wreck; replacing Old English scipwræc ( wrack )
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.
Academic Dr Michael Roberts, from Bangor University's School of Ocean Sciences, is in the process of studying shipwrecks around the coast of Wales.
From BBC
He added that Guinean authorities had helped families of shipwreck victims that they know about, often the few that gain media attention.
From Barron's
A mysterious shipwreck, a colourful cathedral and a "birthplace of the communication age" are among the remarkable places in England that have been granted special protection this year.
From BBC
“It looks like two classically shipwrecked people,” Smith said, calling it a “highly questionable decision that these two people on that obviously incapacitated vessel were still in any kind of fight.”
From Salon
As reading declines, fragments of the literary past float to the cultural surface like corpses after a shipwreck.
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.
