shipwreck
Americannoun
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shipwrecks
plural
-
the destruction or loss of a ship, as by sinking.
-
the remains of a wrecked ship.
-
destruction or ruin.
the shipwreck of one's hopes.
verb (used with object)
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shipwrecks,
present (3rd person singular)
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shipwrecked,
past participle, past
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shipwrecking
present participle
-
to cause to suffer shipwreck.
-
to destroy; ruin.
verb (used without object)
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shipwrecks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
shipwrecked,
past participle, past
-
shipwrecking
present participle
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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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shipwrecksimple
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shipwreckssimple
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have shipwreckedperfect
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has shipwreckedperfect
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am shipwreckingprogressive
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are shipwreckingprogressive
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is shipwreckingprogressive
-
have been shipwreckingperfect progressive
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has been shipwreckingperfect progressive
Past
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shipwreckedsimple
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had shipwreckedperfect
-
was shipwreckingprogressive
-
were shipwreckingprogressive
-
had been shipwreckingperfect progressive
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.
See Examples For:
Prior to this discovery, the world’s oldest shipwreck was a wreck off the coast of Dokos, in Greece, thought to have been from about 4,200 years ago.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026
Acting on clues from local seafarers, Öniz found a shipwreck in shallow waters off Kekova, west of Antalya in Turkey, in 2024.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026
"The shipwreck is a time capsule at the bottom of the sea," said Prof Hakan Öniz, from Akdeniz University in Turkey, who led the Mediterranean Archaeology Association expedition.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
Eighty-two people survived the shipwreck, all Ethiopian nationals, according to the updated toll.
From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026
At last, right in the middle of a shipwreck on a desert island, April noticed the time and said she’d have to go home so she’d be there when Caroline got back from work.
From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
It called it "one of the deadliest shipwrecks recorded" on the route.
From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026
Some shipwrecks are partly or completely buried beneath sediment, which can greatly reduce their ability to release pollutants into the surrounding water.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
He had survived bandito ambushes and cutthroat plots, shipwrecks and crash-landings and high-sea duels.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Of course, not all shipwrecks find themselves in such relatively hospitable conditions—the Titanic, for instance, is slowly being gobbled up by iron-eating bacteria.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
Penelope could not understand the words, but she imagined they told tales of lost loves, shipwrecks, and fish that got away.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
His Ultron avatar sports the long beard of a fisherman shipwrecked by a hard life.
From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2026
Ignited by a shipwrecked sailor’s emergency flare, the fire was first reported on the island’s southwestern coast in the early morning hours of May 15.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
How generations have read the Declaration of Independence, a shipwrecked crew’s island perils, the joys of soccer fandom on more.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
Under the Second Geneva Convention, countries at war are required to take "all possible measures" to rescue wounded or shipwrecked sailors after a naval attack.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2026
He was caught in a storm & shipwrecked in India.
From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman
“Maybe fate brought you here for a reason,” Blackthorne is told shortly after shipwrecking in Japan.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2024
I’ve had a pretty good hardening already, what with knocking on the head, drowning, shipwrecking, starving, and walking off my legs.”
From Yussuf the Guide The Mountain Bandits; Strange Adventure in Asia Minor by John Schonberg
He was in danger of shipwrecking on that fatal sunken reef to American character, popularity.
From Se-quo-yah; from Harper's New Monthly, V.41 by Unknown
And of the risks I ran of utterly shipwrecking my character and good name and from which Thou didst rescue me.
From Santa Teresa an Appreciation: with some of the best passages of the Saint's Writings by Alexander Whyte
Instead he continued: “But I ain’t the one to bear a grudge, Duval, although you did come mighty near shipwrecking my faith in human natur’.
From The Boy Aviators' Flight for a Fortune by John Henry Goldfrap
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