Link Centre Dictionary

shipwreck

shipw·reck

UK/ˈʃɪpɹɛk/ US/ˈʃɪprɛk/ uncommon

noun

1.

a wrecked ship (or a part of one)

2.

an irretrievable loss

  • “that was the shipwreck of their romance”
3.

an accident that destroys a ship at sea

Synonyms

verb

1.

ruin utterly

  • “You have shipwrecked my career”
2.

suffer failure, as in some enterprise

3.

cause to experience shipwreck

  • “They were shipwrecked in one of the mysteries at sea”
4.

destroy a ship

  • “The vessel was shipwrecked”

Origin

From Middle English schipwrak, from Old English sċipwræc (“jetsam”), equivalent to ship + wrack. Cognate with Scots schip-wrak (“to shipwreck”, verb), Dutch scheepswrak (“shipwreck”), German Schiffswrack (“shipwreck”), Swedish skeppsvrak (“shipwreck”), Danish skibsvrag (“shipwreck”). Modern form is due to influence from wreck.

Phrases

  • Uluburun shipwreck

Related words

Word family

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.