bankrupt

The definition of bankrupt is having been legally determined to be unable to pay all debts.

(adjective)

An example of bankrupt is the status of a business that failed and has no remaining assets.

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See bankrupt in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

  1. a person legally declared unable to pay his or her debts: the property of a bankrupt is administered for the benefit of his or her creditors and divided among them
  2. anyone unable to pay his or her debts
  3. a person who lacks a certain quality or has failed completely in some way: a political bankrupt

Origin: Fr banqueroute < It banca rotta < banca, bench (see bank) + rotta, broken < L rupta, fem. pp. of rumpere, to break: see rupture

adjective

  1. that is a bankrupt; insolvent
  2. lacking in some quality; destitute: morally bankrupt
  3. that has failed completely: a bankrupt foreign policy

transitive verb

to cause to become bankrupt

See bankrupt in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun
  1. Law A debtor that, upon voluntary petition or one invoked by the debtor's creditors, is judged legally insolvent. The debtor's remaining property is then administered for the creditors or is distributed among them.
  2. A person who is totally lacking in a specified resource or quality: an intellectual bankrupt.
adjective
  1. a. Having been legally declared financially insolvent.
    b. Financially ruined; impoverished.
  2. a. Depleted of valuable qualities or characteristics: a morally and ethically bankrupt politician.
    b. Totally depleted; destitute: was bankrupt of new ideas.
    c. Being in a ruined state: a bankrupt foreign policy.
transitive verb bank·rupt·ed, bank·rupt·ing, bank·rupts
  1. To cause to become financially bankrupt.
  2. To ruin: an administration that bankrupted its credibility by seeking to manipulate the news.

Origin:

Origin: French banqueroute

Origin: , from Italian banca rotta, broken counter (from the practice of breaking the counters of bankrupt bankers)

Origin: : banca, moneychanger's table; see banco

Origin: + rotta

Origin: , past participle of rompere, to break (from Latin rumpere; see reup- in Indo-European roots)

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Related Forms:

  • bankˈrupt·cy (-rəpt-sē, -rəp-sē) noun
  • bank·rupˈtive adjective

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