bankrupt

[bangk-ruhpt, -ruh pt] /ˈbæŋk rʌpt, -rəpt/
noun
1.
Law. a person who upon his or her own petition or that of his or her creditors is adjudged insolvent by a court and whose property is administered for and divided among his or her creditors under a bankruptcy law.
2.
any insolvent debtor; a person unable to satisfy any just claims made upon him or her.
3.
a person who is lacking in a particular thing or quality:
a moral bankrupt.
adjective
4.
Law. subject to or under legal process because of insolvency; insolvent.
5.
at the end of one's resources; lacking (usually followed by of or in):
bankrupt of compassion; bankrupt in good manners.
6.
pertaining to bankrupts or bankruptcy.
verb (used with object)
7.
to make bankrupt:
His embezzlement bankrupted the company.
Origin
1525-35; < Medieval Latin banca rupta bank broken; replacing adaptations of Italian banca rota and French banqueroute in same sense
Related forms
pseudobankrupt, adjective
quasi-bankrupt, adjective
Synonyms
4. destitute, impoverished.
Examples from the web for bankrupt
  • Everywhere good businesses are going bankrupt and jobs are being destroyed.
  • The choice boiled down to going bankrupt or putting the equipment to work.
  • When a player gets into debt and can't persuade anybody else to lend to him, he goes bankrupt.
  • The world financial community went bankrupt through bad policy.
  • The company went bankrupt and recently put the ship up for sale.
  • Greyhound may be a great name, but it went bankrupt once in the past decade and could have gone bankrupt twice.
  • But the fact is that the government cannot be repaid by a bankrupt firm.
  • Many utilities had to go bankrupt or go through painful reorganization.
  • Their holdings can go to zero, but they can't go bankrupt.
  • Oil is the enemy when they can as a war bankrupt us.
British Dictionary definitions for bankrupt

bankrupt

/ˈbæŋkrʌpt; -rəpt/
noun
1.
a person adjudged insolvent by a court, his or her property being transferred to a trustee and administered for the benefit of his creditors
2.
any person unable to discharge all his or her debts
3.
a person whose resources in a certain field are exhausted or nonexistent: a spiritual bankrupt
adjective
4.
adjudged insolvent
5.
financially ruined
6.
depleted in resources or having completely failed: spiritually bankrupt
7.
(foll by of) (Brit) lacking: bankrupt of intelligence
verb
8.
(transitive) to make bankrupt
Word Origin
C16: from Old French banqueroute, from Old Italian bancarotta, from bancabank1 + rotta broken, from Latin ruptus, from rumpere to break
Word Origin and History for bankrupt
adj.

1560s, from Italian banca rotta, literally "a broken bench," from banca "moneylender's shop," literally "bench" (see bank (n.1)) + rotta "broken, defeated, interrupted" from (and remodeled on) Latin rupta, fem. past participle of rumpere "to break" (see rupture (n.)). "[S]o called from the habit of breaking the bench of bankrupts" [Klein]. Earlier in English as a noun, "bankrupt person" (1530s).

v.

1550s, from bankrupt (adj.). Related: Bankrupted; bankrupting.