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.
The challenge is that this is the train wreck you can see coming.
From Barron's • May 15, 2026
"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
It's fascinating, maddening, a train wreck you can't pull your eyes away from, however morbid.
From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon
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.
