wreck meaning, wreck definition | English Cobuild dictionary

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  ( wrecks    plural & 3rd person present)   ( wrecking    present participle)   ( wrecked    past tense & past participle  )
1       verb   To wreck something means to completely destroy or ruin it.  
A coalition could have defeated the government and wrecked the treaty...      V n  
His life has been wrecked by the tragedy.      V n  
...missed promotions, lost jobs, wrecked marriages.      V-ed  
2       verb   If a ship is wrecked, it is damaged so much that it sinks or can no longer sail.  
usu passive  
The ship was wrecked by an explosion.      be V-ed  
...a wrecked cargo ship.      V-ed  
3       n-count   A wreck is something such as a ship, car, plane, or building which has been destroyed, usually in an accident.  
...the wreck of a sailing ship..., The car was a total wreck..., We thought of buying the house as a wreck, doing it up, then selling it.     
4       n-count   A wreck is an accident in which a moving vehicle hits something and is damaged or destroyed.  
  (mainly AM)   usu supp N  
He was killed in a car wreck.     
in BRIT, usually use crash     
5       n-count   If you say that someone is a wreck, you mean that they are very exhausted or unhealthy.  
INFORMAL   usu sing  
You look a wreck...     
    nervous wreck  

nervous wreck        ( nervous wrecks    plural  ) If you say that someone is anervous wreck, you mean that they are extremely nervous or worried about something.      n-count  
She was a nervous wreck, crying when anyone asked her about her experience.     
Translation English Cobuild Collins Dictionary  



1    blow     (slang)   break, cock up     (Brit. slang)   dash to pieces, demolish, destroy, devastate, fuck up     (offensive taboo slang)   mar, play havoc with, ravage, ruin, screw up     (informal)   shatter, smash, spoil, total     (slang)   trash     (slang)   undo  
2    founder, go or run aground, run onto the rocks, shipwreck, strand  
3    derelict, hulk, shipwreck, sunken vessel  
4    desolation, destruction, devastation, disruption, mess, overthrow, ruin, undoing  
,       vb   build, conserve, create, fulfil, make possible, preserve, reconstruct, salvage, save  
      n   conservation, creation, formation, fulfilment, preservation, restoration, salvage, saving  

English Collins Dictionary - English synonyms & Thesaurus  

train wreck exp.
mess, disaster
It is often used to describe how someone looks or feels. E.g: I'm a train wreck all day if I don't have a cup of coffee.

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