bankrupt
1 of 3noun
bank·rupt ˈbaŋk-(ˌ)rəpt 
1
a
: a debtor (such as an individual or an organization) whose property is subject to voluntary or involuntary administration under the bankruptcy laws for the benefit of the debtor's creditors
b
: a person who becomes insolvent
2
: a person who is completely lacking in a particular desirable quality or attribute
a moral bankrupt
bankrupt
2 of 3adjective
1
a
: reduced to a state of financial ruin : impoverished
specifically : legally declared bankrupt
the company went bankrupt
b
: of or relating to bankrupts or bankruptcy
bankrupt laws
2
a
: broken, ruined
a bankrupt professional career
b
: exhausted of valuable qualities : sterile
a bankrupt old culture
c
: destitute —used with of or in
bankrupt of all merciful feelings
bankrupt
3 of 3verb
bankrupted; bankrupting; bankrupts
transitive verb
1
: to reduce to bankruptcy
2
: impoverish
defections had bankrupted the party of its brainpower
Synonyms
Adjective
- bare
- barren
- bereft
- destitute
- devoid
- void
Verb
- break
- bust
- ruin
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
Noun As a lawyer, she specialized in working with bankrupts. Adjective The lawsuit could leave them bankrupt. the company's product development team was bankrupt of ideas Verb Several risky deals bankrupted the company. several bad investments bankrupted him
Recent Examples on the Web
Michelle Toh, CNN, 19 May 2020 India was granted independence in 1947 by a Britain left bankrupt after World War II. Cassie Werber, Quartz, 17 Oct. 2019 Ghosn was sent to Japan by Renault in the late 1990s and is credited with turning around a then near-bankrupt Nissan. Washington Post, 12 Nov. 2019 China’s Hong Kong puppet regime, albeit bankrupt of any legitimacy, is still unwilling to cede power to the people. Joshua Wong, Quartz, 3 Sep. 2019 From Henry Ford to Donald Trump, America has lionized business leaders (and shameless bankrupts) who disdain history. Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 6 June 2019 That perception came back to bite in big way later in 2008, with the failure of investment bank Lehman Brothers, which went bankrupt on Sept. 15, 2008. Michael S. Derby, WSJ, 18 Sep. 2018 After earning $17 million, the men declared the company bankrupt. Jacob Bernstein, New York Times, 16 June 2018 Tarsila, bankrupt, divorced from de Andrade and increasingly Marxist, would veer into a more politically engaged style. Jason Farago, New York Times, 15 Feb. 2018 John Kelly, Washington Post, 13 Sep. 2022 The interpretation of the sludge brought forth was highly controversial, and the company went bankrupt. Alan Lightman, The Atlantic, 8 Sep. 2022 Towers went bankrupt, and federal prosecutors filed the fraud case against Mr. Hoffenberg. Ed Shanahan, BostonGlobe.com, 26 Aug. 2022 Many commercial landlords, who may have previously perceived independent tenants as risky, are offering them lower rents and flexible leases to fill properties vacated by bankrupt chains once considered more dependable, said Mr. Cooper. WSJ, 25 Dec. 2021 Simon took a $215 million hit in its second quarter from rent abatements, mostly to local tenants, and from bankrupt chains. Maria Halkias, Dallas News, 12 Aug. 2020 Green's father Sir Philip is the former chairman of Arcadia, parent company of fashion retail giants like Topshop, which went bankrupt in 2020. Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 25 Aug. 2022 Her wind and hail insurer went bankrupt, causing the state guarantor to take over claims, gumming up an already slow process. New York Times, 23 Aug. 2022 As the price shot up, short sellers lost big, and some prominent investment funds went bankrupt over the ordeal. Q.ai - Powering A Personal Wealth Movement, Forbes, 10 Aug. 2022 Andrew Wickline, STAT, 27 Aug. 2022 If prices had remained at that level, Xiang would have owed the LME upwards of $10 billion, enough to bankrupt his company, Tsingshan. Nicole Goodkind, CNN, 12 July 2022 The square now boasts restaurants featuring not one but two James Beard award-winning chefs and enough high-end boutiques to bankrupt a lesser royal. Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 20 July 2022 The purpose seems to bankrupt RBC and leave its 600 journalists jobless. Kenneth Rapoza, Forbes, 12 July 2022 Haggis denied the original allegation and sued the publicist, Haleigh Breest, accusing her of trying to bankrupt him. Diana Dasrath, NBC News, 20 June 2022 The go-to-market costs were massive with the potential to bankrupt the underwriting drug companies involved. Robert Pearl, Forbes, 13 June 2022 Is the future incidence of T2d a threat to bankrupt our health care system? Bryant Stamford, The Courier-Journal, 7 Apr. 2022 But a longer downturn could threaten to bankrupt previously healthy companies without more help from the government. CBS News, 13 May 2020 See More
Noun
The plan is intended to prevent the company from being dissolved, forced into liquidation or formally declared bankrupt. Michelle Toh, CNN, 19 May 2020 India was granted independence in 1947 by a Britain left bankrupt after World War II. Cassie Werber, Quartz, 17 Oct. 2019 Ghosn was sent to Japan by Renault in the late 1990s and is credited with turning around a then near-bankrupt Nissan. Washington Post, 12 Nov. 2019 China’s Hong Kong puppet regime, albeit bankrupt of any legitimacy, is still unwilling to cede power to the people. Joshua Wong, Quartz, 3 Sep. 2019 From Henry Ford to Donald Trump, America has lionized business leaders (and shameless bankrupts) who disdain history. Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 6 June 2019 That perception came back to bite in big way later in 2008, with the failure of investment bank Lehman Brothers, which went bankrupt on Sept. 15, 2008. Michael S. Derby, WSJ, 18 Sep. 2018 After earning $17 million, the men declared the company bankrupt. Jacob Bernstein, New York Times, 16 June 2018 Tarsila, bankrupt, divorced from de Andrade and increasingly Marxist, would veer into a more politically engaged style. Jason Farago, New York Times, 15 Feb. 2018 Adjective
Despite the accomplishments of its early years, Pan Am went bankrupt in 1991. John Kelly, Washington Post, 13 Sep. 2022 The interpretation of the sludge brought forth was highly controversial, and the company went bankrupt. Alan Lightman, The Atlantic, 8 Sep. 2022 Towers went bankrupt, and federal prosecutors filed the fraud case against Mr. Hoffenberg. Ed Shanahan, BostonGlobe.com, 26 Aug. 2022 Many commercial landlords, who may have previously perceived independent tenants as risky, are offering them lower rents and flexible leases to fill properties vacated by bankrupt chains once considered more dependable, said Mr. Cooper. WSJ, 25 Dec. 2021 Simon took a $215 million hit in its second quarter from rent abatements, mostly to local tenants, and from bankrupt chains. Maria Halkias, Dallas News, 12 Aug. 2020 Green's father Sir Philip is the former chairman of Arcadia, parent company of fashion retail giants like Topshop, which went bankrupt in 2020. Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 25 Aug. 2022 Her wind and hail insurer went bankrupt, causing the state guarantor to take over claims, gumming up an already slow process. New York Times, 23 Aug. 2022 As the price shot up, short sellers lost big, and some prominent investment funds went bankrupt over the ordeal. Q.ai - Powering A Personal Wealth Movement, Forbes, 10 Aug. 2022 Verb
Surgeons who don’t save Medicare money face penalties large enough to bankrupt them. Andrew Wickline, STAT, 27 Aug. 2022 If prices had remained at that level, Xiang would have owed the LME upwards of $10 billion, enough to bankrupt his company, Tsingshan. Nicole Goodkind, CNN, 12 July 2022 The square now boasts restaurants featuring not one but two James Beard award-winning chefs and enough high-end boutiques to bankrupt a lesser royal. Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 20 July 2022 The purpose seems to bankrupt RBC and leave its 600 journalists jobless. Kenneth Rapoza, Forbes, 12 July 2022 Haggis denied the original allegation and sued the publicist, Haleigh Breest, accusing her of trying to bankrupt him. Diana Dasrath, NBC News, 20 June 2022 The go-to-market costs were massive with the potential to bankrupt the underwriting drug companies involved. Robert Pearl, Forbes, 13 June 2022 Is the future incidence of T2d a threat to bankrupt our health care system? Bryant Stamford, The Courier-Journal, 7 Apr. 2022 But a longer downturn could threaten to bankrupt previously healthy companies without more help from the government. CBS News, 13 May 2020 See More Word History
Etymology
Noun
modification of Middle French & Old Italian; Middle French banqueroute bankruptcy, from Old Italian bancarotta, from banca bank + rotta broken, from Latin rupta, feminine of ruptus, past participle of rumpere to break — more at bank, reave
First Known Use
Noun
1638, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Adjective
1565, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Verb
circa 1625, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Phrases Containing bankrupt
Kids Definition
bankrupt 1 of 3
adjective
bank·rupt ˈbaŋk-ˌrəpt
: not having enough money to pay debts
bankrupt
2 of 3verb
bankrupted; bankrupting
: to cause to not have enough money to pay debts That last risky deal bankrupted the company.
bankrupt
3 of 3noun
: a person or business that does not have enough money to pay debts
Legal Definition
bankrupt 1 of 3
noun
bank·rupt ˈbaŋ-ˌkrəpt
: a debtor (as an individual or organization) whose property is subject to administration under the bankruptcy laws for the benefit of the debtor's creditors
was adjudicated a bankrupt
see also debtor bankrupt
2 of 3adjective
: ruined financially
especially : judicially declared a bankrupt
the company is bankrupt
compare insolvent bankrupt
3 of 3transitive verb
: to reduce to bankruptcy
was bankrupted by attorney's fees
bankrupt 1 of 3
adjective
as in devoid
utterly lacking in something needed, wanted, or expected the company's product development team was bankrupt of ideas Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- devoid
- void
- destitute
- barren
- empty
- bereft
- insufficient
- bare
- incomplete
- blank
- deficient
- wanting
- vacant
- absent
- partial
- fragmentary
- innocent
- short
- missing
- stark
- fragmental
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- rife
- fraught
- flush
- filled
- full
- saturated
- furnished
- crowded
- supplied
- replete
- provided
- bursting
- stuffed
- bulging
- loaded
- fat
- jammed
- crammed
- brimming
- packed
- teeming
- swarming
- thick
- chockful
- abounding
- jam-packed
- thronging
- chock-full
bankrupt
2 of 3verb
as in to ruin
to cause to lose one's fortune and become unable to pay one's debts several bad investments bankrupted him Synonyms & Similar Words
- ruin
- impoverish
- pauperize
- bust
- reduce
- break
- beggar
- wipe out
- straiten
- clean (out)
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- enrich
- richen
bankrupt
3 of 3noun
1
as in delinquent
Synonyms & Similar Words
- delinquent
- derelict
- degenerate
- incorrigible
- rip
- deviate
- pervert
- rake
- libertine
- reprobate
- scoundrel
- villain
- knave
- profligate
- debaucher
- cad
- backslider
- playboy
- blackguard
- heel
- perv
- decadent
- rakehell
- rogue
- debauchee
- miscreant
- lecher
- satyr
- playgirl
- rascal
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- saint
2
as in insolvent
Synonyms & Similar Words
- insolvent
- beggar
- waif
- urchin
- ragamuffin
- mendicant
- panhandler
- almsman
- drifter
- hobo
- transient
- indigent
- pauper
- gamine
- tramp
- roamer
- vagabond
- down-and-outer
- down-and-out
- have-not
- ne'er-do-well
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- affluent
- plutocrat
- millionaire
- moneybags
- billionaire
- deep pocket
- millionairess
- have
- magnate
- tycoon
- fat cat
- billionairess
- gazillionaire
- nabob
- moneymaker
- success
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of bankrupt are deplete, drain, exhaust, and impoverish. While all these words mean "to deprive of something essential to existence or potency," bankrupt suggests impoverishment to the point of imminent collapse.
war had bankrupted the nation of resources
While in some cases nearly identical to bankrupt, deplete implies a reduction in number or quantity so as to endanger the ability to function.
depleting our natural resources
The synonyms drain and bankrupt are sometimes interchangeable, but drain implies a gradual withdrawal and ultimate deprivation of what is necessary to an existence.
personal tragedy had drained him of all spirit
While the synonyms exhaust and bankrupt are close in meaning, exhaust stresses a complete emptying.
her lecture exhausted the subject
The meanings of impoverish and bankrupt largely overlap; however, impoverish suggests a deprivation of something essential to richness or productiveness.
impoverished soil
- field glass
- field goal
- field grade
- field gray
- field gromwell
- field guide
- field hand
- field hands
- field hockey
- field horsetail
- field house
- field ice
- field intensity
- field ion microscope
- field ion microscopy
- field jacket
- field judge
- field kale
- field kitchen
- field lark
- field larkspur
- field lens
- field line
- field madder
- field magnet