as in disasters
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 shipwrecks
Melanie Van Zyl, Travel + Leisure, 6 Mar. 2026
The museum and the Cleveland Underwater Explorers have been locating and identifying shipwrecks in Lake Erie since 2001.
—Kerry Breen, CBS News, 18 Feb. 2026
Shipwreck World, a group that works to locate shipwrecks around the globe, announced the find last week, crediting a team led by Illinois shipwreck hunter Paul Ehorn.
—Anders Hagstrom, FOXNews.com, 16 Feb. 2026
Shipwreck World, a group that works to locate shipwrecks around the globe, announced Friday that a team led by Illinois shipwreck hunter Paul Ehorn found the Lac La Belle about 20 miles (32 kilometers) offshore between Racine and Kenosha, Wisconsin, in October 2022.
—Chicago Tribune, 16 Feb. 2026
Reuters — Fifteen migrants died after their boat collided with a coast guard vessel, capsized and sank off the Greek island of Chios in the Aegean Sea late on Tuesday, the Greek coast guard said, in one of Greece’s worst shipwrecks in years.
—Reuters, CNN Money, 4 Feb. 2026
For Dooley, who had dedicated his professional life to finding shipwrecks, Carisub was the only game in town.
—Literary Hub, 28 Jan. 2026
Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2025
Noun
Discover the remains of hundreds of ancient shipwrecks and observe lions, hyenas, and fur seals in the wild along Namibia’s intriguing Skeleton Coast.
—Melanie Van Zyl, Travel + Leisure, 6 Mar. 2026
The museum and the Cleveland Underwater Explorers have been locating and identifying shipwrecks in Lake Erie since 2001.
—Kerry Breen, CBS News, 18 Feb. 2026
Shipwreck World, a group that works to locate shipwrecks around the globe, announced the find last week, crediting a team led by Illinois shipwreck hunter Paul Ehorn.
—Anders Hagstrom, FOXNews.com, 16 Feb. 2026
Shipwreck World, a group that works to locate shipwrecks around the globe, announced Friday that a team led by Illinois shipwreck hunter Paul Ehorn found the Lac La Belle about 20 miles (32 kilometers) offshore between Racine and Kenosha, Wisconsin, in October 2022.
—Chicago Tribune, 16 Feb. 2026
Reuters — Fifteen migrants died after their boat collided with a coast guard vessel, capsized and sank off the Greek island of Chios in the Aegean Sea late on Tuesday, the Greek coast guard said, in one of Greece’s worst shipwrecks in years.
—Reuters, CNN Money, 4 Feb. 2026
For Dooley, who had dedicated his professional life to finding shipwrecks, Carisub was the only game in town.
—Literary Hub, 28 Jan. 2026
Verb
Two married sea-explorers are stranded, Gilligan-style, after a storm shipwrecks their craft.
—Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shipwrecks
Noun
-
Oil is lighter than water — that’s why disasters like those caused by the Exxon Valdez tanker and the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig create slicks on the surface.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
7 Mar. 2026
-
Priority is given to people living in counties that have been impacted by disasters, and any remaining funds could go to people in other counties.—
Dale Denwalt,
Oklahoman,
6 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
The change launches biannual arguments about the practice, wrecks havoc on sleep and has inspired voters to go to California polls.—
Hannah Poukish,
Sacbee.com,
7 Mar. 2026
-
In a film like this, you’re ostensibly meant to root against the terror that the central characters wrecks on his victims.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
16 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The aircraft, which has only 18 moving parts, is full of redundancy to prevent system failures.—
The Los Angeles Times,
Chicago Tribune,
4 Mar. 2026
-
Supervision failures at the jail and deaths that followed those failures have led to a pile of lawsuits.—
Ryan Oehrli
March 4,
Charlotte Observer,
4 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Kennedy has made no bones about his misplaced skepticism of mRNA vaccines, pinging off the proliferating conspiracies around the COVID vaccines — incredible innovations that saved countless lives during one of the worst global catastrophes in recent memory.—
The Orlando Sentinel,
The Orlando Sentinel,
21 Feb. 2026
-
While Scarry’s books present such catastrophes with bright colors and good humor, Gomez undermines this cheer by superimposing on the mural a nearly all-black painting of a desolate tent encampment in front of a home destroyed by the Eaton fire.—
Sharon Mizota,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
In between those disappointments, though, there was surprisingly good news for Baffert.—
Jay Posner,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Mar. 2026
-
Mercury stationing retrograde can bring disappointments that are informative.—
USA TODAY,
USA Today,
26 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shipwrecks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shipwrecks. Accessed 12 Mar. 2026.
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