wreckage

noun

wreck·age | \ˈre-kij

Definition of wreckage

1 : the act of wrecking : the state of being wrecked

2a : something that has been wrecked

b : broken and disordered parts or material from something wrecked

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Examples of wreckage in a Sentence

Workers sifted through the wreckage of the building, searching for bodies. They cleared the wreckage from the track.

Recent Examples on the Web

In one obliterated neighborhood where the quake raised the land level by more than 16 feet, search and rescue personnel recovered more victims from the wreckage and placed them in body bags next to a closed restaurant. — John Lyons, WSJ, "Aid Slowly Reaches Indonesia Tsunami Victims," 4 Oct. 2018 The Sonic caught fire, police said, and bystanders rushed to the burning vehicle and pulled May from the wreckage. — Peter Hermann, Washington Post, "Man dies after vehicle he is driving strikes Jersey barrier, bursts into flames," 5 July 2018 The assets also include the right to salvage the wreckage site for more objects and intellectual property related to video footage and imagery of the shipwreck. — Lillian Rizzo, WSJ, "Titanic Artifacts to Be Auctioned Off in October," 19 Sep. 2018 The bodies of Markis, Abigail, and Jeremiah were found a few hundred yards from the wreckage. — Lauren Smiley, Glamour, "Two White Moms. Six Black Kids. One Unthinkable Tragedy. A Look Inside the ‘Perfect’ Hart Family," 6 Sep. 2018 The death toll may continue to rise, though at least four survivors have been pulled from the wreckage, says ANSA. — Laura Dannen Redman, Condé Nast Traveler, "Genoa's Ponte Morandi Bridge Collapses, Killing 22," 14 Aug. 2018 Ben Raines discovered the wreckage a few miles north of the city of Mobile. — Leada Gore, AL.com, "Clotilda: What they're saying about possible discovery of last ship to bring slaves to US," 24 Jan. 2018 The wreckage was scoured for identifiable items in the months before the burial, and workers found a number of items that will be added to the memorial collection. — Fox News, "Remaining wreckage of Flight 93 is buried at memorial," 10 July 2018 But once the wreckage was done, the shootout began. — Brendan Marks, charlotteobserver, "NASCAR: Controversial Daytona race ends with Erik Jones' first-ever win in double OT," 7 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wreckage.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

3 Dec 2018

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Time Traveler for wreckage

The first known use of wreckage was in 1837

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More Definitions for wreckage

wreckage

noun

English Language Learners Definition of wreckage

: the broken parts of a vehicle, building, etc., that has been badly damaged or destroyed

See the full definition for wreckage in the English Language Learners Dictionary

wreckage

noun

wreck·age | \ˈre-kij

Kids Definition of wreckage

1 : the remains of a wreck I therefore set out … to search for whatever wreckage the waves had washed ashore.— Scott O'Dell, Island of the Blue Dolphins

2 : the act of wrecking : the state of being wrecked