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
Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 7 Nov. 2025
Stay at the Four Seasons Resort Nevis, which partners with Islander Watersports to offer excursions to scuba dive reefs, coral grottoes and shipwrecks just minutes from Pinney’s Beach.
—Adrienne Jordan, USA Today, 6 Nov. 2025
Traditionally, the bell is rung 29 times, once for each crew member lost aboard the Edmund Fitzgerald and a 30th in honor of all lives lost in Great Lakes shipwrecks.
—Caitlin Looby, jsonline.com, 4 Nov. 2025
From 2019 to 2025, researchers at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, north of Paradise at Whitefish Point, say 15 shipwrecks on Lake Superior's floor have been discovered.
—Sarah Moore, Freep.com, 4 Nov. 2025
Driftwood tent shelters appear marooned like shipwrecks, and the beach is scattered with the bones of the giant whales.
—Chloe Berge, AFAR Media, 15 Oct. 2025
The area was given the name after shipwrecks full of treasure, beginning in the 1600s, occurred due to the reefs and isolated location, according to multiple sources.
—Ashley J. Dimella , Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 6 Oct. 2025
The fleet encountered a hurricane off the coast of Eastern Florida in an area now known as the Treasure Coast — named for the fact that a large number of shipwrecks took place there — and all but one of the fleet’s approximately 12 ships were destroyed.
—Toria Sheffield, PEOPLE, 4 Oct. 2025
A number of ancient shipwrecks have been discovered in the Mediterranean Sea, with 2,000-year-old Roman terracotta jars found in the remains of a ship found off the coast of Italy in 2023, a Greek merchant ship discovered in 2018 off the Bulgarian coast and dozens more.
—Jasmine Laws, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Sep. 2025
Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2025
Noun
The military sites included were in Saipan and Italy, while the Lake Huron sites were commercial shipwrecks in relatively accessible freshwater locations.
—Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 7 Nov. 2025
Stay at the Four Seasons Resort Nevis, which partners with Islander Watersports to offer excursions to scuba dive reefs, coral grottoes and shipwrecks just minutes from Pinney’s Beach.
—Adrienne Jordan, USA Today, 6 Nov. 2025
Traditionally, the bell is rung 29 times, once for each crew member lost aboard the Edmund Fitzgerald and a 30th in honor of all lives lost in Great Lakes shipwrecks.
—Caitlin Looby, jsonline.com, 4 Nov. 2025
From 2019 to 2025, researchers at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, north of Paradise at Whitefish Point, say 15 shipwrecks on Lake Superior's floor have been discovered.
—Sarah Moore, Freep.com, 4 Nov. 2025
Driftwood tent shelters appear marooned like shipwrecks, and the beach is scattered with the bones of the giant whales.
—Chloe Berge, AFAR Media, 15 Oct. 2025
The area was given the name after shipwrecks full of treasure, beginning in the 1600s, occurred due to the reefs and isolated location, according to multiple sources.
—Ashley J. Dimella , Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 6 Oct. 2025
The fleet encountered a hurricane off the coast of Eastern Florida in an area now known as the Treasure Coast — named for the fact that a large number of shipwrecks took place there — and all but one of the fleet’s approximately 12 ships were destroyed.
—Toria Sheffield, PEOPLE, 4 Oct. 2025
A number of ancient shipwrecks have been discovered in the Mediterranean Sea, with 2,000-year-old Roman terracotta jars found in the remains of a ship found off the coast of Italy in 2023, a Greek merchant ship discovered in 2018 off the Bulgarian coast and dozens more.
—Jasmine Laws, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Sep. 2025
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
-
Excluding disasters, sudden surges of this magnitude in requests for food or any other need are rare at 211s, and can signal both public worry and need, as happened in the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.—
Matthew W. Kreuter,
CNN Money,
8 Nov. 2025
-
But Kalmaegi also collapsed flood-control infrastructure in the province that was ostensibly meant to protect citizens in such disasters.—
Chad de Guzman,
Time,
6 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
This process wrecks kidney and heart tissue, causing the heart to enlarge and blood vessels to become stiffer, impeding circulation and setting the stage for clots.—
Jyoti Madhusoodanan,
Scientific American,
16 Dec. 2025
-
The larger dragon has two car launchers and a fire-breathing effect that wrecks passing cars.—
Clint Davis,
PEOPLE,
27 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Thinking globally and acting locally means electing people of vision, not people who couldn't find their way out of a paper bag without a lobbyist lighting their way under the table, or down the wrong path where for-profit companies rule and teachers are scapegoated for society's failures.—
SHELLEY SMITH SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE,
Arkansas Online,
10 Jan. 2026
-
Despite multiple ongoing investigations, survivors say officials still lack answers about why response failures disproportionately affected west Altadena.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
An observer of catastrophes, come what may.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
6 Jan. 2026
-
Across their nearly 100-year football rivalry, USC and Notre Dame have only paused their annual matchup for global catastrophes like World War II and the Covid-19 pandemic.—
Austin Turner,
CBS News,
22 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
Advertisement Books provide us with refuge from disappointments and heartbreak and loss.—
Laura Dave,
Time,
10 Jan. 2026
-
Yes, rookie draftees got playing opportunities but none was a standout, and the top two picks were closer to disappointments than successes.—
Chris Perkins,
Sun Sentinel,
7 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shipwrecks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shipwrecks. Accessed 11 Jan. 2026.
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