wrecker
Americannoun
-
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.
noun
-
a person or thing that ruins or destroys
-
a person whose job is to demolish buildings or dismantle cars
-
(formerly) a person who lures ships to destruction to plunder the wreckage
-
another word for tow truck
Etymology
Origin of wrecker
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.
“Maxx remains on track to return during the offseason program and will undoubtedly return as the dominant game wrecker he has been these past seven seasons,” Crosby’s agent, CJ LaBoy, wrote on X.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 11, 2026
It is fitting that we meet a woman once described as a "wrecker of civilisation" in the grounds of a ruined priory.
From BBC • Jun. 7, 2025
“We have worked a lot of theft cases over the years, but this one definitely takes first place in the heavyweight category,” Sheriff John Shearon’s office said in a statement, thanking the wrecker service.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 18, 2022
But the Rams have another potential offense wrecker in LB Leonard Floyd, plus the revitalized Von Miller.
From Washington Times • Jan. 27, 2022
“There was no regret,” observed the Chicago Tribune, “rather a feeling of pleasure that the elements and not the wrecker should wipe out the spectacle of the Columbian season.”
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
