bankrupt
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
adj.unable to pay your debts and officially declared to have no money by a court.
adj.legally declared unable to pay outstanding debts or meet financial obligations.
Simple“The company went bankrupt after its main factory closed down last year.”
In context“The retail chain was officially declared bankrupt after failing to secure a rescue deal with its primary creditors.”
UsageCommonly follows the verb 'go'.
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to make a person or a business lose all their money.
v.to reduce a person, business, or country to a state of bankruptcy. Transitive — requires a direct object.
Simple“High medical bills can bankrupt a family very quickly in some countries.”
In context“The aggressive expansion strategy threatened to bankrupt the firm before the new stores could even open their doors.”
- 03 C1 Advanced
n.a person who has been officially judged by a court to be unable to pay their debts.
n.an individual who has been legally declared insolvent and whose property is administered for the benefit of creditors.
Simple“As a registered bankrupt, he was not allowed to act as a company director.”
In context“The court appointed a trustee to manage the assets of the bankrupt and ensure a fair distribution to the claimants.”
“It bankrupted the director, and he abandoned Justin's mother Caroline, leaving her with all his debts.”
“It is no spoiler to reveal that the attempt bankrupted a struggling Scottish economy, hampered already by its overbearing neighbour, England.”
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.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.