shipwreck
noun · verb
Simple meaning
An event where a ship sinks or runs aground.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
shihprekSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈʃɪpɹɛk
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
countableuncountable
An event where a ship sinks or runs aground.
A ship that has sunk or run aground so that it is no longer seaworthy; a ruined vessel or its remains.
A wrecked ship (or a part of one)
figurative
Destruction; disaster; failure; ruin; irretrievable loss.
“That was the shipwreck of their romance.”
verb
To wreck a boat through a collision or other mishap.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An event where a ship sinks or runs aground.
Used this way, shipwreck 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
- wreck , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use shipwreck
- “That was the shipwreck of their romance.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
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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.