Noun: wreck
| Singular | wreck |
| Plural | wrecks |
Sample Sentences
-
He was an emotional wreck after the death of his wife.
-
To the fair haven of my native home, / The vvreck of vvhat I was, fatigued I come, […] [1782, William Cowper, “Retirement”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 277:]
-
In 2006, 18-year-old Nikki Catsouras was killed in a car wreck in Lake Forest. [2015 July 16, Rob Hayes, “Santa Monica nonprofit pushing Google for 'Right to be Forgotten'”, in KABC-TV:]
-
Hard and obſtinate, / As is a rocke amidſt the raging floods: / gaynſt vvhich a ſhip of ſuccour deſolate, / doth ſuffer vvreck both of her ſelfe and goods. [1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “[Amoretti.] Sonnet LVI”, in Amoretti and Epithalamion. […], London: […] [Peter Short] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, signature [D5], verso:]
-
the wrecks of matter and the crush of worlds [1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 57:]
-
Its intellectual life was thus able to go on amidst the wreck of its political life. [1883, John Richard Green, The Conquest of England:]
-
2. ... Wreck includes the cargo, stores and tackle of a vessel and all parts of a vessel separated from the vessel, and the property of persons who belong to, are on board or have quitted a vessel that is wrecked, stranded or in distress at any place in Canada. [1985, “Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46)”, in Justice Canada, retrieved 09 Sep 2021:]
-
[I]n 1952 more than 7,000 were involved in such a "wreck" in Britain and Ireland. [1988, Michael Cady, Rob Hume, editors, The Complete Book of British Birds, page 89:]
Nouns inflected like wreck
soldier's woundwort,
Nicosian,
whopper,
greypate,
tactile sign language,
chronotrope,
Rosie Lee,
dissentient,
photoinactivator,
sulphonediimine,
coastal waterfall,
residuary devise,
bituminization,
nitrosonaphthol,
smṛiti,
geosphere,
backscreen,
mensuralist,
flocculate,
flocculant, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
From Middle English wrek, from Anglo-Norman wrek, from Old Norse *wrek (whence Norwegian rek, Icelandic rek, Swedish vrak, Danish vrag), from Proto-Germanic *wrekaną (“to pursue”, whence Old English wrecan (English wreak), Old Saxon wrekan, Old High German rëhhan, Gothic 𐍅𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (wrikan)), from Proto-Indo-European *wreg- (“to track; to hunt; to follow”). See: Middle English Nouns '
wrek', Swedish Nouns '
vrak', Danish Nouns '
vrag', Old English Nouns '
wrecan', English Nouns '
wreak'.