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
Other Word Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has shipwreckedperfect 3rd person singular
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have shipwreckedperfect
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have been shipwreckingperfect progressive
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is shipwreckingprogressive 3rd person singular
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am shipwreckingprogressive 1st person singular
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are shipwreckingprogressive
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has been shipwreckingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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shipwreckingparticiple
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shipwreckssingular 3rd person
Past
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had shipwreckedperfect
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had been shipwreckingperfect progressive
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were shipwreckingprogressive plural
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was shipwreckingprogressive singular
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shipwreckedsimple
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shipwreckedparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of shipwreck
before 1100; Middle English shipwrech remains of a shipwreck; see ship 1, wreck; replacing Old English scipwræc ( see wrack)
Explanation
A shipwreck is the damaged remains of a large sea-going vessel that washes to shore or sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Historians are interested in old shipwrecks, which reveal details of who was onboard or what was being transported when the ship was badly damaged. You can use the word for the act of the ship's destruction as well as the wreckage left behind: "The shipwreck occurred when the Titanic struck an iceberg." Storms, accidents, war, and sabotage can all lead to shipwrecks. An earlier maritime word with the same meaning was "ship-breaking."
Vocabulary lists containing shipwreck
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.
And in an age when many steamboats, cheaply built and poorly maintained, did, in the words of one contemporary, “a wholesale business in human slaughter,” Vanderbilt never lost a ship to fire, explosion or shipwreck.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 10, 2026
Among them is his Oscar-shortlisted “The Deep,” the tale of an Icelandic fisherman who survived a 1984 shipwreck for six hours in 41-degrees-Fahrenheit ocean water, swam to shore and then walked barefoot over lava fields.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026
In this longer and more structured form, what began as an intentional scattering of ashes becomes an elegiac letter home mediated by shipwreck.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 4, 2026
Curtis, a travel content creator, said he was exploring the coastal path when a friend mentioned a nearby shipwreck.
From BBC • Feb. 17, 2026
He was certain that a shipwreck could be excavated with the same scientific care and precision as archaeologists working on land.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
