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Webster's New World College Dictionary » bankrupt
bankrupt
bankrupt definition
bank·rupt (baŋk′rupt′, -rəpt)
noun
- 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
- anyone unable to pay his or her debts
- a person who lacks a certain quality or has failed completely in some way a political bankrupt
Etymology: Fr banqueroute < It banca rotta < banca, bench (see bank) + rotta, broken < L rupta, fem. pp. of rumpere, to break: see rupture
adjective
- that is a bankrupt; insolvent
- lacking in some quality; destitute morally bankrupt
- that has failed completely a bankrupt foreign policy
transitive verb
to cause to become bankrupt
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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