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
Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 29 May 2025
Dive historic shipwrecks, sail past gorgeous rock formations, and wade in shimmering pools of clear blue water.
—AFAR Media, 23 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
The remains were identified as belonging to Henry Goodsell, a captain who died in an 1844 shipwreck off the coast of South Jersey's Brigantine Shoal.
—Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 29 May 2025
Dive historic shipwrecks, sail past gorgeous rock formations, and wade in shimmering pools of clear blue water.
—AFAR Media, 23 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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Similarly, the market-resilience work performed by a lab at the University of California, Davis, offers solutions to farmers and agricultural communities that are vulnerable to intensifying weather disasters.—
Peter Slevin,
New Yorker,
9 June 2025
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Federal database that tracked costly weather disasters no longer being updated How to prepare for an earthquake disaster Huge earthquakes have long been an existential crisis for millions along the West Coast, as described in a 2022 USA TODAY article.—
Terry Collins,
USA Today,
8 June 2025
Verb
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DeChambeau became the first defending champion to miss the cut at the national championship since Gary Woodland in 2020 — his round wrecked by errant drives, knucklers out of the rough and putts that would not drop.—
Apress,
The Orlando Sentinel,
14 June 2025
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When the blowback from this problem child’s dodgy associations threatens to wreck her life, the everymatriarch steps in.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
13 June 2025
Noun
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While human error is the leading cause of data loss, other causes include hardware failure, theft, software corruption, viruses, natural disasters and power failure.—
Chongwei Chen,
Forbes.com,
6 June 2025
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When the administration announced the proclamation on Wednesday, Trump argued that Harvard’s failure to disclose information on international student misconduct threatened national security.—
Ben Smith,
semafor.com,
6 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Shipwreck.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shipwreck. Accessed 20 Jun. 2025.
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