wreck
pronunciation
How to pronounce wreck in British English:
UK [rek]
How to pronounce wreck in American English:
US [rek]
-
- Noun:
- something or someone that has suffered ruin or dilapidation
- an accident that destroys a ship at sea
- a serious accident (usually involving one or more vehicles)
- a ship that has been destroyed at sea
-
- Verb:
- smash or break forcefully
Word Origin
- wreck
- wreck: [13] Wreck goes back ultimately to the Indo-European base *wreg-, a variant of which may be responsible for English urge. Its Germanic descendant *wrek- formed the basis of a verb *wrekan ‘drive’. The native English descendant of this is wreak [OE], which originally meant ‘drive out’, and developed its modern meaning via ‘give vent to anger or other violent emotions’. Wreck itself was acquired via Old Norse *wrek and Anglo-Norman wrec, and etymologically it denotes a ship that has been ‘driven’ on to the shore.A variant of the same base, *wrak-, lies behind English wretch [OE] (etymologically someone ‘driven’ out, an ‘exile’) and also possibly French garçon ‘boy’.=> urge, wreak, wretch
- wreck (n.)
- early 13c., "goods cast ashore after a shipwreck, flotsam," from Anglo-French wrec, from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse *wrek "wreck, flotsam" (cognates: Norwegian, Icelandic rek), related to reka "to drive, push," from Proto-Germanic *wrekan (see wreak (v.)). The meaning "a shipwreck" is first recorded mid-15c.; that of "a wrecked ship" is by c. 1500. General sense of "remains of anything that has been ruined" is recorded from 1713; applied by 1795 to dissipated persons. Compare wrack (v.).
- wreck (v.)
- "to destroy, ruin," c. 1500, from wreck (n.). Earlier (12c.) it meant "drive out or away, remove;" also "take vengeance." Intransitive sense from 1670s. Related: Wrecked; wrecking.
Example
- 1. A bungled acquisition can wreck a career .
- 2. This would wreck budgets and upset the navy and air force .
- 3. We compared our reconstruction with survivor testimony and the condition of the wreck .
- 4. The left has delighted in the affair , as have unions seeking to wreck pension reform .
- 5. Which is why some suspect a less noble motive , to wreck mr sarkozy 's chances .