bankruptcy

/ˈbæŋkrəptsi/

/ˈbeɪŋkrəptsi/

Other forms: bankruptcies

Bankruptcy is a state of being bankrupt, or having no money to pay back debts that you owe.

When you file for bankruptcy, you are giving up all your possessions and declaring, essentially, that you don't have any money left. During the recession, lots of businesses had to file for bankruptcy or declare by law that they were unable to pay off their debts. The ending of the word bankruptcy is a tricky one. Remember that it ends in tcy.

Definitions of bankruptcy

1. noun

   a legal process intended to insure equality among the creditors of a corporation declared to be insolvent
   type of:

   legal proceeding, proceeding, proceedings

   (law) the institution of a sequence of steps by which legal judgments are invoked
2. noun

   inability to discharge all your debts as they come due
   “the company had to declare bankruptcy”

   synonyms: failure

   type of:

   insolvency

   the lack of financial resources
3. noun

   a state of complete lack of some abstract property
   “spiritual bankruptcy”

   “moral bankruptcy”

   “intellectual bankruptcy”

   type of:

   failure

   lack of success