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wreck

Pronunciation: /ˈɹɛk/

The English word “wreck” has 12 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. Something or someone that has been ruined.
  2. The remains of something that has been severely damaged or worn down.
  3. An event in which something is damaged through collision.
  4. A shipwreck: an event in which a ship is heavily damaged or destroyed.
  5. Goods, etc. cast ashore by the sea after a shipwreck.
  6. A large number of birds that have been brought to the ground, injured or dead, by extremely adverse weather.

verb

  1. To destroy violently; to cause severe damage to something, to a point where it no longer works, or is useless.
  2. To ruin or dilapidate.
  3. To plunder goods from wrecked ships.
  4. To dismantle wrecked vehicles or other objects, to reclaim any useful parts.
  5. To involve in a wreck; hence, to cause to suffer ruin; to balk of success, and bring disaster on.
  6. To be involved in a wreck; to be damaged or destroyed.

Etymology

From Middle English wrek, from Anglo-Norman wrek, from Old Norse *wrek (whence Norwegian rek, Icelandic rek, Swedish vrak, Danish vrag), from Proto-Germanic *wrekaną (“to pursue”, whence Old English wrecan (English wreak), Old Saxon wrekan, Old High German rëhhan, Gothic 𐍅𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (wrikan)), from Proto-Indo-European *wreg- (“to track; to hunt; to follow”).

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.