shipwreck Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a wrecked ship (or a part of one)
  2. noun an irretrievable loss
    • that was the shipwreck of their romance
  3. noun an accident that destroys a ship at sea
    wreck.
  4. verb ruin utterly
    • You have shipwrecked my career
  5. verb suffer failure, as in some enterprise
  6. verb cause to experience shipwreck
    • They were shipwrecked in one of the mysteries at sea
  7. verb destroy a ship
    • The vessel was shipwrecked

WordNet

Ship"wreck` noun
Definitions
  1. The breaking in pieces, or shattering, of a ship or other vessel by being cast ashore or driven against rocks, shoals, etc., by the violence of the winds and waves.
  2. A ship wrecked or destroyed upon the water, or the parts of such a ship; wreckage. Dryden.
  3. Fig.: Destruction; ruin; irretrievable loss.
    Holding faith and a good conscience, which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck. 1 Tim. 1. 19.
    It was upon an Indian bill that the late ministry had made shipwreck. J. Morley.
Ship"wreck` transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Shipwrecked ; present participle & verbal noun Shipwrecking
Definitions
  1. To destroy, as a ship at sea, by running ashore or on rocks or sandbanks, or by the force of wind and waves in a tempest.
    Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break. Shak.
  2. To cause to experience shipwreck, as sailors or passengers. Hence, to cause to suffer some disaster or loss; to destroy or ruin, as if by shipwreck; to wreck; as, to shipwreck a business. Addison.

Webster 1913