1
as in wrecking
the destruction or loss of a ship
the shipwreck of much of the Spanish Armada ended Spain's plans for invading England
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2
as in disaster
something that has failed
finally admitted that their marriage was a shipwreck and that the time had come to bail out
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Recent Examples of shipwreck
Jillian Frankel, People.com, 23 May 2025
Continue reading … ‘EVIL MAN’ – Social media erupts after Schumer blames Trump for deadly Brooklyn Bridge shipwreck.
—FOXNews.com, 20 May 2025
Andy Swift, TVLine, 16 Feb. 2025
The movie, the story of a robot shipwrecked on an island only inhabited by animals, includes a shot of San Francisco Bay and depicts the Golden Gate Bridge as submerged due to sea level rise.
—Zack Budryk, The Hill, 20 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shipwreck
Noun
After that, Ramapo College students began diving in to help, including by looking up historic shipwrecks around the New Jersey coast.
—Jillian Frankel, People.com, 23 May 2025
Continue reading … ‘EVIL MAN’ – Social media erupts after Schumer blames Trump for deadly Brooklyn Bridge shipwreck.
—FOXNews.com, 20 May 2025
Verb
Another particularly gay episode sends Peter and his friends on a dangerous sailing expedition, only for them to get shipwrecked on Fire Island.
—Andy Swift, TVLine, 16 Feb. 2025
The movie, the story of a robot shipwrecked on an island only inhabited by animals, includes a shot of San Francisco Bay and depicts the Golden Gate Bridge as submerged due to sea level rise.
—Zack Budryk, The Hill, 20 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shipwreck
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shipwreck
Noun
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By ordering these strikes, Trump acted without congressional approval and in contradiction to his campaign promise to avoid the kind of disasters experienced in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan.—
David Remnick,
New Yorker,
22 June 2025
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One of the factors that exacerbated the Chernobyl disaster was a design flaw within the nuclear reactor that exploded, Bernstein said, adding that the design is no longer used.—
Julia Jacobo,
ABC News,
21 June 2025
Verb
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The facility had been subject to sabotage and subterfuge by Israel for many years even before these attacks–including a computer virus that wrecked the centrifuges over a decade ago.—
Geoff Brumfiel,
NPR,
26 June 2025
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All three spent Wednesday warning that Mamdani would wreck New York.—
David Weigel,
semafor.com,
25 June 2025
Noun
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Both sets of parents would have surely been willing to help with rent and whatever else was needed for the baby’s well-being, but the couple agreed that asking them for money at this age constituted a failure too great to stomach.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
30 June 2025
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Officials said that the situation at Harvard represents not simply a failure to address specific incidents, but a structural climate that has allowed antisemitism to persist, prompting government intervention to uphold civil rights standards.—
Nick Mordowanec,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Shipwreck.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shipwreck. Accessed 4 Jul. 2025.
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