bankrupt

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun someone who has insufficient assets to cover their debts
  2. verb reduce to bankruptcy
  3. adjective financially ruined

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.

In classic literature

Synonyms

insolvent

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