wipeout
Americannoun
-
wipeouts
plural
-
Informal. destruction, annihilation, or murder.
-
Informal. (in sports) a decisive defeat.
-
a fall from a surfboard.
-
Slang. a total or complete failure.
to suffer a wipeout in the stock market.
-
Slang. complete physical exhaustion.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of wipeout
First recorded in 1920–25; noun use of verb phrase wipe out
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:
Well, then, so is January, when the horrific bear market of 1973-74 began, initiating a 48% wipeout.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
Big companies are starting to hire again, defying predictions of an AI wipeout.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
His entire store is completely closed, facing structural damage, food and product loss and a complete wipeout of their inventory.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
Doubts about the current bull market have started to creep in following Friday’s tech stock wipeout, but this wouldn’t be the first false alarm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
Read: S&P 500 sees $1.8 trillion wipeout, Nasdaq tallies biggest point drop on record.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 6, 2026
Newsletter writer Robert Prechter correctly predicted the epic bull market in 1982 but then multiple wipeouts that never occurred.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
“But you’ve got to avoid the wipeouts and you’ve got to be positioned at all times for the next wave coming, and it’s a never-ending process,” he told MarketWatch in an interview on Monday.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 4, 2026
But there were no crashes on a course that has a track record for some gruesome wipeouts and evacuation by helicopter.
From Barron's ● Jan. 24, 2026
There have already been some spectacular wipeouts in Olympic warm-up sessions, but so far no serious injuries.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2024
As Wang explained, shifting in his seat and gesturing with his hands throughout, Alameda earned an “allow_negative” badge because it helped the firm sidestep the automatic procedures Wang implemented to prevent account overdraws and wipeouts.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2023
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.
