train wreck

or train·wreck

[ trein-rek ]

/ ˈtrɛɪnˌrɛk /

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noun

an accident in which a train or trains are severely damaged.

Slang. a person who has experienced a personal failure, disaster, etc.

Slang. a disastrous situation, occurrence, or process: His football career has been a train wreck.

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Words nearby train wreck

trainsick, train sickness, train smash, train spotter, trainspotterish, train wreck, traipse, trait, traitor, traitorous, traitress

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use train wreck in a sentence

People don’t believe it’s happening anyway, and the narrative that it’s a train wreck in Congress is a pretty easy story to tell.
Why is Washington so dysfunctional?|Amber Phillips|September 30, 2021|Washington Post
The momfluencer rose with Instagram, but the moms of TikTok are less Real Housewives and more real train wrecks.
TikTok’s Strange (and Wonderful) Subcultures|Sean Culligan|June 23, 2021|Ozy
These days, she braces for every interview to include a question about Ryan Adams, the alt-country train wreck whose 2019 scandal derailed a project they were working on.
Liz Phair is back, and she’s setting the record — and the record business — straight|Geoff Edgers|May 27, 2021|Washington Post
The raw confidence in its action systems, enemies and mechanics inspired a generation of action game directors, who would then go on to lead their titles with similarly panicked introductions, like the train wreck of “Uncharted 2.”
Every Resident Evil game, ranked|Gene Park|May 7, 2021|Washington Post

From there we took the train to Nice, France, but the French border control caught us and sent us back to Italy.
Ghost Ships of the Mediterranean|Barbie Latza Nadeau|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The U.S. military is finally starting to train Iraqi troops to fight ISIS in restive Anbar province.
Pentagon Insider on New Plan to Fight ISIS: ‘Of Course It’s Not Enough’|Nancy A. Youssef|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Thankfully there were no casualties—the driver managed to stop the train immediately.
Is Putin Turning to Terrorism in Ukraine?|Anna Nemtsova|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The U.S. only plans to train roughly 3,000 Iraqi troops in the first year.
Pentagon Insider on New Plan to Fight ISIS: ‘Of Course It’s Not Enough’|Nancy A. Youssef|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
“We met the smuggler in the train station; he came to speak with us about the services he provided,” Yazbek says.
Ghost Ships of the Mediterranean|Barbie Latza Nadeau|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It was only the engine drawing the train of cars up to the station to take the passengers away.
Squinty the Comical Pig|Richard Barnum
He went careering forward to his point, overturning and wounding; but as he speeded on, he left a train of enemies behind.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4|Jane Porter
The fire along the three miles front is like the rumble of an express train running over fog signals.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I|Ian Hamilton
We were about nine hours of fair daylight traversing 160 miles of level or descending grade, with a light passenger train.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
There were only seventeen stations on the whole line, over which the first passenger train ran on Sept. 17.
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham|Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell

British Dictionary definitions for train wreck

train wreck

noun

an incident in which a train is severely damaged

informal something or someone that has suffered ruin or calamity

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012