ENGLISH
REFERENCE

bankrupt

n.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈbæŋkɹəpt// UK //bˈæŋkɹʌpt// bank·rupt Archaic

n. unable to pay your debts or the money you owe. You use this when a person or a business has no money left to keep going.

n. legally declared unable to pay outstanding debts. Often used figuratively to describe a complete lack of a particular quality or value.


SIMPLE

The company went bankrupt after the market crashed.

CONTEXTUAL

Several small retailers were forced to go bankrupt when the new shopping mall opened nearby.

COMPLEX

The court ruled that the firm was officially bankrupt, leading to a total liquidation of its assets to satisfy the demands of its primary creditors.

Synonyms
Origin

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.

Usage

Commonly follows the linking verb 'go' or 'become'.

Pitfall

The company was bankrupt by the bank.The company was made bankrupt by the bank.When used as a verb, it is usually 'to bankrupt someone' or 'to be made bankrupt'; 'bankrupt' itself is primarily an adjective.

Idioms2 entries

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