bankrupt

CEFRB2

/ˈbæŋk.ɹəpt/

adjective · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Unable to pay debts because all money or property is gone.

  2. 02

    verb

    To make a person or company unable to pay debts.

Examples

  • We were financially troubled, in short, we were bankrupt.

  • The company went bankrupt.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
3
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /ˈbeɪ̯ŋk.ɹəpt/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Destitute of, or wholly lacking a good quality, value, etc. one should possess or once possessed.

  2. To force into bankruptcy.

  3. In a condition of bankruptcy; unable to pay outstanding debts or meet financial obligations; specifically, having been legally declared insolvent.

More examples

In context

  • a creatively bankrupt endeavor

  • a morally bankrupt politician

  • a bankrupt merchant

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

After losing all his money in bad investments, the businessman became completely blank.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

Partial calque of Italian bancarotta (literally “a broken bench”), from banca (“bank”, literally “bench”) + rotta (“broken, rupted”), which refers to an out-of-business bank, having its bench physically broken, signifying that the working moneylender was insolvent.