bankrupt

Unable to pay your debts, especially when a court has officially recognized this.

• The company went bankrupt.
• A court declared him bankrupt last year.
• Creditors tried to recover money from the bankrupt business.

How to use it: go bankrupt (The business went bankrupt after losing its biggest customer.); be declared bankrupt (She was declared bankrupt in June.)

Similar words: insolvent

Opposites: solvent

Common phrases: go bankrupt, declared bankrupt, bankrupt company

Having no money left.

• I am bankrupt until payday.
• That holiday left us almost bankrupt.
• After buying the tickets, she felt completely bankrupt.

Similar words: broke, penniless

Opposites: rich

Common phrases: completely bankrupt, almost bankrupt

Completely lacking an important good quality, such as honesty or new ideas.

• Their policy is morally bankrupt.
• The movement seemed intellectually bankrupt.
• The leadership was bankrupt of new ideas.

How to use it: bankrupt of something (The party is bankrupt of fresh ideas.)

Similar words: empty, devoid

Common phrases: morally bankrupt, intellectually bankrupt, bankrupt of ideas

To make someone unable to pay their debts.

• The lawsuit could bankrupt him.
• Rising costs bankrupted the company.
• Will these losses bankrupt the business?

Similar words: ruin

Common phrases: bankrupt a company, bankrupt someone