train wreck
Americannoun
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an accident in which a train or trains are severely damaged.
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Slang. a person who has experienced a personal failure, disaster, etc.
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Slang. a disastrous situation, occurrence, or process.
His football career has been a train wreck.
noun
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an incident in which a train is severely damaged
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informal something or someone that has suffered ruin or calamity
Etymology
Origin of train wreck
First recorded in 1870–75
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.
"This company has exhibited all of the characteristics of a train wreck," said Mark Cohen, the former head of retail studies at Columbia Business School.
From BBC • Jan. 9, 2026
Off the coast of Vancouver Island, in the Cascadia region, scientists have now seen that "train wreck" unfolding.
From Science Daily • Oct. 25, 2025
Above all, we experience a pervasive miasma of helplessness as we are forced to watch this intolerable train wreck.
From Salon • Sep. 20, 2025
Umpires call it a train wreck, a play that results in a horrific collision through no fault of the baserunner or fielder.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 23, 2025
From everything he’d read in the papers, Kaira’s life was a train wreck.
From "Small Steps" by Louis Sachar
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.
