wrecker

[ rek-er ]

See synonyms for: wrecker wreckers on Thesaurus.com

noun

a person or thing that wrecks.
a person, car, or train employed in removing wreckage, debris, etc., as from railroad tracks.

Also called tow car, tow truck. a vehicle equipped with a mechanical apparatus for hoisting and pulling, used to tow wrecked, disabled, or stalled automobiles.
Also called housewrecker. a person whose business it is to demolish and remove houses or other buildings, as in clearing sites for other use.
a person or vessel employed in recovering salvage from wrecked or disabled vessels.
a person who plunders wrecks, especially after exhibiting false signals in order to cause shipwrecks.

Origin of wrecker

First recorded in 1795–1805; wreck + -er¹

Words Nearby wrecker

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

How to use wrecker in a sentence

We invented a trusted magical figure, turned him into a home wrecker, and pump those lyrics into the backseat all December long.
How Santa Hurts Christmas | Candida Moss | December 23, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
“I remember these kids coming up to me and calling me a ‘home-wrecker,’” Cardellini told The Daily Beast.
‘Boy Meets World’ Turns 20: The Silly Show We Can’t Help but Love | Kevin Fallon | September 24, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
I remember these kids coming up to me and calling me a “home-wrecker,” and so I had flashes of that going into my role on Mad Men.
Emmys 2013: Linda Cardellini on ‘Mad Men,’ ‘Freaks and Geeks,’ and More | Marlow Stern | August 21, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
He had been a smuggler, a wrecker, a pirate; his hand was red with blood, his soul dark with the soil of crime.
The Cornwall Coast | Arthur L. Salmon
In some places even a wrecker's foot-path down the bank lasts several years.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 86, December, 1864 | Various

No; the vital defect of The wrecker must be set down to Mr. Stevenson's account.
Adventures in Criticism | Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
It makes no difference whether Whitmore was a home-wrecker or a man of the utmost probity.
The Substitute Prisoner | Max Marcin
As our vessel was not noted for fast sailing, we accepted an invitation to go on board of a wrecker.
Audubon and his Journals, Vol. 2 | Maria R. Audubon

British Dictionary definitions for wrecker

wrecker

/ (ˈrɛkə) /

noun

a person or thing that ruins or destroys
mainly US and Canadian a person whose job is to demolish buildings or dismantle cars

(formerly) a person who lures ships to destruction to plunder the wreckage
US and Canadian another word for tow truck

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

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