bankruptcy

[ bangk-ruhpt-see, -ruhp-see ]

noun

, plural bank·rupt·cies.

1. the state of being or becoming bankrupt.
2. utter ruin, failure, depletion, or the like.

bankruptcy

/ ˈbæŋkrʌptsɪ; -rəptsɪ /

noun

1. the state, condition, or quality of being or becoming bankrupt

bankruptcy

1. Legally declared insolvency, or inability to pay creditors .

Notes

If an individual or a corporation declares bankruptcy, a court will appoint an official to make an inventory of the individual's or corporation's assets and to establish a schedule by which creditors can be partially repaid what is owed them.

An individual who is lacking a specific resource or quality is sometimes said to be bankrupt, as in intellectually bankrupt or morally bankrupt.

Other Words From

• pre·bankrupt·cy noun plural prebankruptcies

Word History and Origins

Origin of bankruptcy¹

First recorded in 1690–1700; bankrupt + -cy

Example Sentences

Council budgets are stretched, some teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, in part because of care costs.

From BBC

After 20 months, the company that held the Angels’ television rights emerged from a federal bankruptcy court Thursday, still intact as a company and still holding the Angels’ television rights.

From Los Angeles Times

This blizzard of filings in Delaware bankruptcy court tells quite a tale.

From Los Angeles Times

The Sandy Hook lawsuit drove Jones to bankruptcy, and a Houston judge ruled that Infowars and other assets owned by Jones could be auctioned off to pay off his creditors.

From Salon

In the real world, he's a failed businessman who repeatedly filed for bankruptcy after losses so huge that even decades of fraud and two cash infusions amounting to nearly a billion dollars couldn't safeguard him.

From Salon

Related Words

• default
• disaster
• failure
• insolvency
• liquidation
• loss