wreck
Other forms: wrecked; wrecks; wrecking
A wreck is something that's been destroyed. Your hair might be a wreck after a bad day at the barber. Your car might be a wreck after you hit a telephone pole.
Your house might be a wreck after a visit from 3-year-old twins. You might be an emotional wreck after a fight with your boyfriend. A sunken ship is a wreck, or a shipwreck. When you hit that telephone pole, you’ve had a wreck, and you can also call your mangled car a wreck. When you’re next heading out with the car keys, you mom might say, "Don't wreck the car!,” hoping you’ll bring it back in one piece.
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something or someone that has suffered ruin or dilapidation“the house was a wreck when they bought it”“thanks to that quack I am a human wreck”type of:declination, declinea condition inferior to an earlier condition; a gradual falling off from a better state
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an accident that destroys a ship at sea
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a ship that has been destroyed at seatype of:shipa vessel that carries passengers or freight
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a serious accident (usually involving one or more vehicles)
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smash or break forcefully
- MLA
- APA
- Chicago
wreck / wreak / reek
Vocabulary lists containing wreck
Learn these words from the history article by Susan E. Goodman and the interview (Inside: Level A, Unit 5). Here are our links to the selections of "The Drive to Discover": Return to Titanic; Talking with Robert Ballard, The Forgotten Treasure; There Is No Word for Goodbye, Mysteries of the Ancient Past, The Power of Mysteries Here are our links to the units of Level A: Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5, Unit 6, Unit 7, Unit 8 Here are our links to the Inside books: Level A, Level B, Level C Here is our link to a list of academic vocabulary for Inside: Academic Vocabulary
Learn the correct meanings and usages of these commonly confused words for eleventh- and twelfth-grade students.
Vocabulary from Cormac McCarthy's "The Road."