Word.ws English Dictionary

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)

  1. (usually, company) 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
  2. (figuratively) 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)

  1. (transitive) 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
  2. to get placed last in Tycoon with the bankruptcy rule

Noun

bankrupt (plural bankrupts)

  1. One who becomes unable to pay his or her debts; an insolvent person; a bankruptee.
  2. (UK, obsolete) 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.

All 40 example sentences with bankrupt

Synonyms of bankrupt

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of bankrupt

Forms of bankrupt

Adjective
comparativemore bankrupt
superlativemost bankrupt
Verb
third-person singular presentbankrupts
present participlebankrupting
past participlebankrupted
pastbankrupted
Noun
pluralbankrupts

Past tense of bankrupt: bankrupted

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

  1. bankroller
  2. bankrollers
  3. bankrolling
  4. bankrolls
  5. bankrupcy
  6. bankrupt
  7. bankrupt cart
  8. bankrupt carts
  9. bankrupt worm
  10. bankrupt worms
  11. bankruptcies

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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Cite this entry: “bankrupt.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bankrupt. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.