Standard Lemma guide

bankrupt

adj · noun · verb · 9 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈbæŋk.ɹəpt/ without æ-raising
  • /ˈbæŋk.ɹʌpt/ without æ-raising
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • /ˈbeɪ̯ŋk.ɹəpt/ æ-raising
  • /ˈbeɪ̯ŋk.ɹʌpt/ æ-raising
  • rhymes with -æŋkɹəpt
  • rhymes with -æŋkɹʌpt
  • CMU ARPABET: B AE1 NG K R AH0 P T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

In a condition of bankruptcy; unable to pay outstanding debts or meet financial obligations; specifically, having been legally declared insolvent.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: usually

Qualifier: company

Topics: business, finance

Examples

  • a bankrupt merchant

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: almsless, arm, badly off, bankrupt, beggared, beggarly, boracic, broke, broken, broker than the Ten Commandments, depauperate, destitute, dirt poor, disadvantaged, down and out, down at heel, down on one's luck, down on one's uppers, empty-handed, farthingless, feeling the pinch, flat, goodless, groatless, hard up, impecunious, impoverished, in need, indigent, insolvent, lower-class, moneyless, necessitous, needy, oofless, pauperized, penniless, penurious, pinched, pok kai, poor, poor as a church mouse, poor as a rat, poor as Job, possessionless, poverty-ridden, poverty-stricken, shillingless, skint, stone-broke, stony-broke, strapped, stuck, threadbare, unwealthy, wealthless

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Destitute of, or wholly lacking a good quality, value, etc. one should possess or once possessed.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

Examples

  • a morally bankrupt politician
  • a creatively bankrupt endeavor

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

One who becomes unable to pay his or her debts; an insolvent person; a bankruptee.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A trader who secretes himself, or does certain other acts tending to defraud his creditors.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: UK, obsolete

Topics: law

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

verb

Meaning 5

To force into bankruptcy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

verb

Meaning 6

to get placed last in Tycoon with the bankruptcy rule

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: card-games, games

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

adjective satellite

Meaning 7

financially ruined

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a bankrupt company
  • the company went belly-up

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: belly-up(p)

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

someone who has insufficient assets to cover their debts

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: insolvent

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: failure, loser, nonstarter, unsuccessful person

9

verb

Meaning 9

reduce to bankruptcy

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • My daughter's fancy wedding is going to break me!
  • The slump in the financial markets smashed him

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ruin, break, smash

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: impoverish

History

Etymology

Partial calque of Italian bancarotta (literally “a broken bench”), from banca (“bank”, literally “bench”) + rotta (“broken, rupted”), which refers to an out-of-business bank, having its bench physically broken, signifying that the working moneylender was insolvent.

Across languages

Translations

94 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مُفْلِس (muflis) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Armenian: սնանկ (snank) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Bulgarian: банкрут (bankrut) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Catalan: arruïnat — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Chinese Mandarin: 破產著 /破产着 (pòchǎnzhe) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Danish: bankerot — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Danish: fallit — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Danish: konkurs — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Dutch: bankroet — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Dutch: in faling — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Dutch: failliet — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Esperanto: bankrota — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Finnish: vararikossa — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Finnish: vararikkoinen — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Finnish: konkurssissa — having been legally declared insolvent
  • French: en faillite — having been legally declared insolvent
  • French: failli — having been legally declared insolvent
  • German: bankrott — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Greek: χρεωκοπημένος (chreokopiménos) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Hebrew: פּוֹשֵׁט רֶגֶל (poshét régel) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Hindi: दिवालिया (divāliyā) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Hindi: दिवलीया (divlīyā) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Hungarian: tönkrement — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Hungarian: csődbe jutott — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Icelandic: gjaldþrota — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Indonesian: bangkrut — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Indonesian: pailit — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Italian: fallito — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Japanese: 破産した (hasan-shita) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Japanese: 倒産した (tōsan-shita) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Japanese: 破綻した (hatan-shita) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Khmer: ក្ស័យធន (ksâythôn) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Khmer: ធនក្ស័យ (thĕəʼnĕəkksay) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Korean: 파산 (pasan) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Malay: bangkrap — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Malay: muflis — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Māori: pēkerapu — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Māori: mone — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Mongolian: дампуу (dampuu) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Norwegian Bokmål: konkurs — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: konkurs — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: busliten — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Persian: ورشکسته (varšekaste) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Plautdietsch: bankrott — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Polish: zbankrutowany — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Portuguese: bancarrota — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Portuguese: falido — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Punjabi: ਦਿਵਾਲ਼ੀਆ (divāḷīā) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Romanian: falimentar — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Romanian: falit — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Romanian: mofluz — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Russian: обанкро́тившийся (obankrótivšijsja) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Spanish: quebrado — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Spanish: arruinado — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Swedish: bankrutt — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Tagalog: pagkalugi — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Tagalog: bangkarote — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Turkish: müflis — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Turkish: batkın — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Ottoman Turkish: باتقین (batkın) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Ukrainian: банкру́т (bankrút) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Ukrainian: банкро́т (bankrót) — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Vietnamese: phá sản — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Welsh: methdalwr — having been legally declared insolvent
  • Catalan: bancarroter — insolvent person
  • Catalan: bancarrotera — insolvent person
  • Finnish: vararikkoinen — insolvent person
  • Italian: bancarotta — insolvent person
  • Macedonian: банкрот (bankrot) — insolvent person
  • Macedonian: банкроте́р (bankrotér) — insolvent person
  • Māori: pēkerapu — insolvent person
  • Polish: bankrut — insolvent person
  • Polish: bankrutka — insolvent person
  • Russian: банкро́т (bankrót) — insolvent person
  • Welsh: methdalwr — insolvent person
  • Bulgarian: разорявам (razorjavam) — force into bankruptcy
  • Bulgarian: причинявам фалит на (pričinjavam falit na) — force into bankruptcy
  • Chinese Mandarin: 破產 /破产 (pòchǎn) — force into bankruptcy
  • Esperanto: bankroti — force into bankruptcy
  • Finnish: pakottaa konkurssiin — force into bankruptcy
  • Finnish: saattaa konkurssiin — force into bankruptcy
  • German: in den Konkurs treiben — force into bankruptcy
  • Ido: bankrotigar — force into bankruptcy
  • Italian: fallire — force into bankruptcy
  • Māori: pēkerapu — force into bankruptcy
  • Māori: whakamone — force into bankruptcy
  • Norwegian: konkurs — force into bankruptcy
  • Norwegian: bankerott — force into bankruptcy
  • Norwegian: insolvent — force into bankruptcy
  • Romanian: falimenta — force into bankruptcy
  • Russian: банкро́тить (bankrótitʹ) — force into bankruptcy
  • Russian: обанкро́тить (obankrótitʹ) — force into bankruptcy
  • Russian: разоря́ть (razorjátʹ) — force into bankruptcy
  • Russian: разори́ть (razorítʹ) — force into bankruptcy
Real reading context

bankrupt in complete knowledge articles