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bankrupt

noun · adjective · verb

Simple meaning

Someone who becomes unable to pay his or her debts.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

bangkruhpt

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈbæŋkɹəpt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. One who becomes unable to pay his or her debts; an insolvent person; a bankruptee.

adjective

  1. financeof a personcompanyetc.

    In a condition of bankruptcy; unable to pay outstanding debts or meet financial obligations; specifically, having been legally declared insolvent.

  2. figurative

    Destitute of, or wholly lacking a good quality, value, etc. one should possess or once possessed.

verb

  1. Reduce to bankruptcy

  2. transitive

    To force into bankruptcy.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: One who becomes unable to pay his or her debts; an insolvent person; a bankruptee.

Used this way, bankrupt is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • insolvent , a specialist term, precise but narrower

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Bankruptcy / becomes

declared bankruptbankrupt act

Insufficient

bankrupt estate

Get

bankrupt law

Other combinations

become bankruptgone bankruptgoing bankrupt

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: one who becomes unable to pay his

insolventTechnical

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.