Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense bankrupts, present participle bankrupting, past tense, past participle bankrupted
1. adjective
People or organizations that go bankrupt do not have enough money to pay their debts.
[business]
If the firm cannot sell its products, it will go bankrupt.
He was declared bankrupt after failing to pay a £114m loan guarantee.
2. verb
To bankrupt a person or organization means to make them go bankrupt.
[business]
The move to the market nearly bankrupted the firm and its director. [VERB noun]
Uninsured people can be bankrupted by big medical bills. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: ruin, break, impoverish, make bankrupt More Synonyms of bankrupt
3. countable noun
A bankrupt is a person who has been declared bankrupt by a court of law.
[business]
Synonyms: bankrupt person, debtor, insolvent More Synonyms of bankrupt
4. adjective
If you say that something is bankrupt, you are emphasizing that it lacks any value or worth.
[emphasis]
He really thinks that European civilisation is morally bankrupt.
Synonyms: lacking, wanting, deprived, in need More Synonyms of bankrupt
More Synonyms of bankrupt
bankrupt in British English
(ˈbæŋkrʌpt, -rəpt)
noun
1.
a person adjudged insolvent by a court, his or her property being transferred to a trustee and administered for the benefit of his creditors
2.
any person unable to discharge all his or her debts
3.
a person whose resources in a certain field are exhausted or nonexistent
a spiritual bankrupt
adjective
4.
adjudged insolvent
5.
financially ruined
6.
depleted in resources or having completely failed
spiritually bankrupt
7. (foll by of) British
lacking
bankrupt of intelligence
verb
8. (transitive)
to make bankrupt
Word origin
C16: from Old French banqueroute, from Old Italian bancarotta, from bancabank1 + rotta broken, from Latin ruptus, from rumpere to break
bankrupt in American English
(ˈbæŋkˌrʌpt; ˈbæŋkrəpt)
noun
1.
a person legally declared unable to pay his or her debts: the property of a bankruptis administered for the benefit of his or her creditors and divided among them
2.
anyone unable to pay his or her debts
3.
a person who lacks a certain quality or has failed completely in some way
a political bankrupt
adjective
4.
that is a bankrupt; insolvent
5.
lacking in some quality; destitute
morally bankrupt
6.
that has failed completely
a bankrupt foreign policy
verb transitive
7.
to cause to become bankrupt
Word origin
Fr banqueroute < It banca rotta < banca, bench (see bank1) + rotta, broken < L rupta, fem. pp. of rumpere, to break: see rupture
Examples of 'bankrupt' in a sentence
bankrupt
Hundreds of companies have already gone bankrupt and countries pushed to the brink of collapse.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
When it ended, the field was a mess and two nations were virtually bankrupt.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
A third of residential care homes are at risk of going bankrupt.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
We would have gone bankrupt.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
A fellow investor in my scheme, this is going to bankrupt him.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Yet back home firms were left counting the cost, with some left bankrupt and one firm of solicitors alone stung for 2.2million.
The Sun (2016)
Airline execs have met to consider declaring the firm bankrupt.
The Sun (2008)
We are financially bankrupt because we are morally bankrupt.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
What led up to you declaring yourself bankrupt last year?
The Sun (2014)
If we wished to be there we had to go in via a bankrupt company.
Thompson, Sir Peter Sharing the Success - the story of NFC (1990)
The nation was bankrupt and its citizens exhausted.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
But many of these companies were either nearly or actually bankrupt.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
We are sure that nobody who reads this book is likely to go bankrupt.
Charles A. D'Ambrosio & Stewart D. Hodges & Richard Brealey & Stewart Myers Principles of Corporate Finance (1991)
So does that make you morally bankrupt too?
The Sun (2012)
Does she buy into the idea that those born with a silver spoon are morally bankrupt?
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
She also claimed he had engineered her being declared bankrupt last year.
The Sun (2009)
The continued chaos is speeding the bankrupt nation towards a eurozone exit.
The Sun (2012)
One person a minute is being declared insolvent or going bankrupt.
The Sun (2011)
Hopefully it will be before he makes me bankrupt.
The Sun (2008)
He argued that his company would go bankrupt if it tried to offer replacements to thousands of patients.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
The healthy but lazy who claim incapacity benefit are just as morally bankrupt as those benefiting from offshore tax havens.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
The doctor said that he had been left nearly bankrupt and that his career had slipped back because of lost time.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Which is convenient given two of its group made themselves bankrupt in May this year.
The Sun (2014)
That is, the theory becomes hopelessly bankrupt though considerably more "elegant.
Henry, John F The Making of Neoclassical Economics (1990)
Finally, there are certain things that are classed as criminal offences if a bankrupt person does them.
Tondeur, Keith Say Goodbye to Debt (1994)
Then the bankrupt firm can continue to use the asset, but it must also continue to make the lease payments.
Charles A. D'Ambrosio & Stewart D. Hodges & Richard Brealey & Stewart Myers Principles of Corporate Finance (1991)
The weakest firms go bankrupt.
Lee Harvey Critical Social Research (1990)
If it issues a notice and the individual is unable to pay, it could lead to that person being made bankrupt.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
They may be discharged as a bankrupt after a year, but risk problems getting a job or renting a flat for five more years.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
In other languages
bankrupt
British English: bankrupt /ˈbæŋkrʌpt; -rəpt/ ADJECTIVE
People or organizations that go bankrupt do not have enough money to pay their debts.
He was declared bankrupt after not repaying a £114m loan.
American English: bankrupt
Arabic: مُفْلِس
Brazilian Portuguese: falido
Chinese: 破产
Croatian: bankrotiran
Czech: nesolventní
Danish: fallit
Dutch: failliet
European Spanish: en quiebra
Finnish: vararikossa oleva
French: ruiné
German: bankrott
Greek: χρεωκοπημένος
Italian: fallito
Japanese: 破産した
Korean: 파산한
Norwegian: konkurs
Polish: zbankrutowany
European Portuguese: falido
Romanian: falimentar
Russian: неплатежеспособный
Latin American Spanish: en quiebra
Swedish: bankrutt
Thai: ล้มละลาย
Turkish: iflas
Ukrainian: банкрут
Vietnamese: phá sản
British English: bankrupt NOUN
A bankrupt is a person who has been declared bankrupt by a court of law.
In total, 80% of bankrupts are men.
American English: bankrupt
Brazilian Portuguese: falido
Chinese: 破产者
European Spanish: insolvente
French: failli
German: Bankrotteur
Italian: fallito
Japanese: 破産者
Korean: 파산자
European Portuguese: falido
Latin American Spanish: insolvente
British English: bankrupt VERB
To bankrupt a person or organization means to make them go bankrupt.
The move to the market nearly bankrupted the firm and its director.
American English: bankrupt
Brazilian Portuguese: falir
Chinese: 使破产
European Spanish: arruinar
French: mettre en faillite
German: ruinieren
Italian: far fallire
Japanese: 破産させる
Korean: 파산시키다
European Portuguese: falir
Latin American Spanish: arruinar
Chinese translation of 'bankrupt'
bankrupt
(ˈbæŋkrʌpt)
adj
[person, company]破产(產)的 (pòchǎn de)
(fig)
morally bankrupt道德沦(淪)丧(喪)的 (dàodé lúnsàng de)
n(c)
[person]破产(產)者 (pòchǎnzhě) (名, míng)
vt
[person, organization]使破产(產) (shǐ pòchǎn)
to go bankrupt破产(產) (pòchǎn)
to be made bankrupt宣告破产(產) (xuāngào pòchǎn)
1 (adjective)
Definition
financially ruined
I was finally declared bankrupt.
Synonyms
insolvent
Two years later, the bank was declared insolvent.
broke (informal)
I'm as broke as you are.
spent
ruined
wiped out (informal)
impoverished
The goal is to lure businesses into impoverished areas.
beggared
in the red
The theatre is in the red.
on the rocks
destitute
destitute families who live in poverty
gone bust (informal)
in receivership
gone to the wall
in the hands of the receivers
on your uppers
in queer street (informal)
Opposites
sound
,
wealthy
,
prosperous
,
solvent
,
in the money (informal)
,
on the up and up
2 (adjective)
Definition
no longer having a particular quality
a rootless, cynical, morally bankrupt society
Synonyms
lacking
Why was military intelligence so lacking?
wanting
I feel as if something important is wanting in my life.
deprived
the problems associated with life in a deprived inner city area
in need
Food supplies are being sent to people in need.
bereft
destitute
(verb)
Definition
to make bankrupt
The move to the market nearly bankrupted the firm and its director.
Synonyms
ruin
She accused him of ruining her financially.
break
The newspapers can make or break you.
impoverish
a society impoverished by wartime inflation
make bankrupt
make insolvent
(noun)
Definition
a person, declared by a court to be unable to pay his or her debts, whose property is sold and the proceeds distributed among the creditors
Three years later he was declared a bankrupt.
Synonyms
bankrupt person
debtor
insolvent
Additional synonyms
in the sense of break
Definition
to reduce to poverty or the state of bankruptcy
The newspapers can make or break you.
Synonyms
ruin,
destroy,
crush,
humiliate,
bring down,
bankrupt,
degrade,
impoverish,
demote,
make bankrupt,
bring to ruin
in the sense of broke
Definition
having no money
I'm as broke as you are.
Synonyms
penniless,
short,
ruined,
bust (informal),
bankrupt,
impoverished,
in the red,
cleaned out (slang),
insolvent,
down and out,
skint (British, slang),
strapped for cash (informal),
dirt-poor (informal),
flat broke (informal),
penurious,
on your uppers,
stony-broke (British, slang),
in queer street (informal),
without two pennies to rub together (informal),
without a penny to your name
in the sense of deprived
Definition
lacking adequate living conditions, education, etc.
the problems associated with life in a deprived inner city area