bankrupt

Everyday

1. (money, law) A person or company that is bankrupt cannot pay their debts, and a court takes control of what they own to pay the people they owe. tree →
2. To bankrupt someone is to make them bankrupt. tree →
3. (informal) Bankrupt of something means having none of it left: bankrupt of ideas. tree →

In the lessons

In money lessons, a business goes bankrupt when it owes more than it can ever pay back. In stories, a rich man may go bankrupt and lose his house. Toad spends so wildly on cars that his friends fear for his money. In Monopoly, a player who cannot pay is bankrupt and out of the game.

Examples

• The shop went bankrupt and closed. tree →
• His spending nearly bankrupted the family. tree →
• In Monopoly, you lose when you go bankrupt. tree →
• The company was declared bankrupt by the court. tree →
• The war left the country bankrupt. tree →
• The writer felt bankrupt of ideas. tree →

Note

Noun: bankruptcy. Phrase: «go bankrupt». In maths, being bankrupt means your debts (what you owe) are bigger than what you own and can pay.