Wreckage Meaning
/ˈɹɛkɪdʒ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounSomething wrecked, especially the remains or debris of something which has been severely damaged or destroyed.
Sentence Examples
The wreckage of the ship was salvaged after it had gone to Davy Jones's locker.
A flight attendant was rescued from the wreckage of the passenger plane.
The wreckage is scattered over a large area.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The terrible car accident left the vehicle in a heap of ____ on the highway.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The rescue team spent many hours searching through the ____ for any sign of survivors after the plane crash today.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree English wreck Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icus Latin -āticus Latin -āticum Old French -agebor. Middle English -age English -age English wreckage From wreck + -age.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"About three or four minutes later still an express freight on the up main line ran into the wreckage at about 35 m.p.h. Its engine also overturned and 15 more wagons were added to the mounting pile of wreckage."
— 1962 October 26, “Talking of Trains: The collisions at Connington”, in Modern Railways, page 232:
"Explorers have found the 153-year-old wreckage of the Bay State, one the earlier propeller-driven steamships to ply the waters of the Great Lakes."
— 2015 October 22, Michael Pearson, “153-year-old shipwreck found in Lake Ontario”, in CNN:
"Typically for the 'get-on-with-it' era, the railway and military worked like demons to restore the vital rail link. The crater was rapidly filled in and the earth tamped solid, the wreckage was removed by breakdown trains, new rails and sleepers were rushed forward by willing hands, and US Army bulldozers piled in. By 2020 on the same day, both tracks were open for traffic again where there had been a gaping pit just hours before."
— 2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43:
"More recent attempts to salvage general equilibrium theory from the Sonnenschein-Mantel-Debreu wreckage have met with little success[.]"
— 2024, Jeremy B. Rudd, A Practical Guide to Macroeconomics, page 2:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The terrible car accident left the vehicle in a heap of ____ on the highway.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The rescue team spent many hours searching through the ____ for any sign of survivors after the plane crash today.