bankrupt
Syllables: bank·rupt/ˈbæŋk.ɹəpt/
bankrupt adjective: in a condition of bankruptcy; unable to pay outstanding debts or meet financial obligations; specifically, having been legally declared insolvent.
Adjective
bankrupt (comparative more bankrupt, superlative most bankrupt)
- In a condition of bankruptcy; unable to pay outstanding debts or meet financial obligations; specifically, having been legally declared insolvent.
- a bankrupt merchant
- "How did you go bankrupt?" Bill asked. "Two ways," Mike said. "Gradually and then suddenly."1926, Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, page 141
- Synonyms:
- almsless, arm, badly off, beggared, beggarly, boracic, broke, broken, broker than the Ten Commandments, depauperate
- Destitute of, or wholly lacking a good quality, value, etc. one should possess or once possessed.
- a morally bankrupt politician
- a creatively bankrupt endeavor
Verb
bankrupt (third-person singular simple present bankrupts, present participle bankrupting, simple past and past participle bankrupted)
- To force into bankruptcy.
- The cost of the Mendip line had, however, bankrupted the S.D.R. [Somerset & Dorset Railway], and it was leased to the two larger companies for 999 years in 1875, and named the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway.1953 August, David R. Webb, “By Rail to Bournemouth”, in Railway Magazine, page 553
- to get placed last in Tycoon with the bankruptcy rule
Noun
bankrupt (plural bankrupts)
- One who becomes unable to pay his or her debts; an insolvent person; a bankruptee.
- A trader who secretes himself, or does certain other acts tending to defraud his creditors.
bankrupt meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
bankrupt in Hindi
- having been legally declared insolvent
- दिवालिया divāliyā, दिवलीया divlīyā
bankrupt in Tamil
- வங்கி நொடிப்பு நிலை, ஓட்டாண்டி, வங்குரோத்து
bankrupt in Marathi
- Bankrupt, done up
- नाट nāṭ
bankrupt in Urdu
- دیوالیہ, مفلس, پھکڑ, قرق
More languagesFewer languages
- bankrupt in Bengali
- দেউলিয়া, রিক্ত, ঋণ পরিশোধে অক্ষম
- bankrupt in Malayalam
- പാപ്പരായവൻ, കടം വീട്ടാൻ ശേഷിയില്ലാത്ത പാവപ്പെട്ടവൻ
- bankrupt in Kannada
- ಸಾಲಗೇಡಿ, ದಿವಾಳಿ, ಕಡುಬಡವ, ಪಾಪರು
- bankrupt in Punjabi
- ਦਿਵਾਲ਼ੀਆ divāḷīā
- bankrupt in Gujarati
- નાદાર
- bankrupt in Tagalog
- pagkalugi, bangkarote
- bankrupt in Arabic
- مُفْلِس muflis
- bankrupt in Malay
- bangkrap, muflis
- bankrupt in Indonesian
- bangkrut, pailit
- bankrupt in Persian
- ورشکسته varšekaste
- bankrupt in Vietnamese
- phá sản
Examples of bankrupt in a sentence
- A costly medical condition can bankrupt you if it doesn't kill you first.
- It's all up with him: he's bankrupt and has lost his family.
- In France, syndics are appointed by the creditors of a bankrupt to manage the property.
Synonyms of bankrupt
- almsless
- arm
- badly off
- beggared
- beggarly
- boracic
- broke
- broken
- broker than the Ten Commandments
- destitute
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- dirt poor
- disadvantaged
- down and out
- down at heel
- down on one's luck
- down on one's uppers
- empty-handed
- farthingless
- feeling the pinch
- flat
- goodless
- hard up
- impecunious
- impoverished
- in need
- indigent
- insolvent
- lower-class
- moneyless
- necessitous
- needy
- pauperized
- penniless
- penurious
- pinched
- pok kai
- poor
- poor as a church mouse
- poor as a rat
- poor as Job
Forms of bankrupt
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more bankrupt |
| superlative | most bankrupt |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | bankrupts |
| present participle | bankrupting |
| past participle | bankrupted |
| past | bankrupted |
| Noun | |
| plural | bankrupts |
Origin of bankrupt
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.
Words formed from bankrupt
Phrases with bankrupt
Questions about bankrupt
- What does bankrupt mean?
- Bankrupt means in a condition of bankruptcy; unable to pay outstanding debts or meet financial obligations; specifically, having been legally declared insolvent.
- What is bankrupt in Hindi?
- Bankrupt in Hindi is दिवालिया (divāliyā), दिवलीया (divlīyā). See Bankrupt meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is bankrupt?
- Bankrupt can be an adjective, a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce bankrupt?
- Bankrupt is pronounced /ˈbæŋk.ɹəpt/.
Words near bankrupt in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bankrupt (page history and authors); bankrupt (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); नाट (Marathi) (page history and authors); bankrupt (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bankrupt (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bankrupt (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bankrupt (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bankrupt (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bankrupt.wav.
Cite this entry: “bankrupt.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bankrupt. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
