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wreck

(rĕk)

1. The act of destroying or the state of being destroyed; destruction: "The filmmaker ... was hardly the first person to blame misguided agriculture for the wreck of the plains" (Timothy Egan).

a. Accidental destruction of a ship; a shipwreck.

b. The stranded hulk of a severely damaged ship.

c. Fragments of a ship or its cargo cast ashore by the sea after a shipwreck; wreckage.

a. An automobile or railroad collision or accident: witnessed a wreck on the highway.

b. The remains of something that has been wrecked, especially an automobile that has crashed: walked away unharmed from the wreck.

a. Something that is dilapidated or worn out: still driving that wreck of a car; living in a wreck of a house.

b. A person who is physically or mentally worn out.

v. wrecked, wreck·ing, wrecks

v.tr.

1. To cause the destruction of in a collision: wrecked the car by hitting a tree.

2. To dismantle or raze; tear down.

3. To cause to undergo ruin or disaster: an argument that wrecked their friendship. See Synonyms at blast, destroy. See Usage Note at wreak.

v.intr.

1. To suffer destruction or ruin; become wrecked: a ship that wrecked on the rocks.

2. Informal To experience or cause an accident in which the vehicle one is riding in is badly damaged: They were speeding over 70 miles an hour when they wrecked.

3. To work as a wrecker.

[Middle English wrek, from Anglo-Norman wrec, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse rec, wreckage.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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