I. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a gibbering wreck (= someone who is very shocked or frightened )
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a gibbering wreck
be a nervous wreck (= be so nervous or worried that you cannot deal with a situation )
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By the end of the rehearsal I was a nervous wreck.
wrecking ball
wrecking crew
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
bomb
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According to security sources, massive bombs which wrecked neighbouring towns, had been destined for Portadown.
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Bomb wrecks Ulster hotel A bomb has wrecked a hotel in Ulster and damage neighbouring houses.
car
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Meanwhile, Bob Green was yesterday counting the cost of the car theft which wrecked his hopes of competing.
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The car was wrecked , we had no water, and the closest town was forty miles away.
career
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But you and I both know all it would take to wreck your career is one errant snip of the scissors.
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It was the sort of injury that could wreck a year, maybe wreck a career .
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He wrecked his whole career , probably completely shredded his marriage.
chance
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But her very presence seemed to be wrecking what chance the company had of any success.
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He had wrecked his chances now.
home
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So tell me why you think I'd want to wreck your home ?
life
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The tragedy has wrecked the family's life .
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Not once has the driver apologised to Noreen for the accident that wrecked her life .
plan
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This time the paper girl wrecked my plan .
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The Philadelphia foursome are terrified that romance could wreck their plans for stardom.
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The explanation, he says, is the fraud that has wrecked Brandmakers' financing plans .
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A system that is too complex and time consuming encourages errors, undermines enthusiasm and can wreck potentially effective intervention plans .
■ VERB
threaten
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Steps seen as draconian or unfair threaten to wreck the political process before it begins.
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The Jackson-Vanik bill threatened to wreck the whole thing.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Bulldozers were brought in to wreck the tents and shacks that protesters had put up.
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Glen drove right into a tree and wrecked his car.
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He came home drunk again, threatening to wreck the apartment.
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His confrontational speech has wrecked any chances of a peace settlement.
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Ron's affair wrecked our marriage.
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The bank robbers wrecked Stan's car trying to get away from police.
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The two years in prison wrecked Jarvis' marriage.
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They had stolen a car and wrecked in on the freeway.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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According to security sources, massive bombs which wrecked neighbouring towns, had been destined for Portadown.
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But the charges wrecked his campaign.
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Frelimo's Central Committee reported that by 1989, 45 percent of all primary schools had either been closed or wrecked.
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Lindsay had solved the problem of trailering the stallions together by temporarily wrecking their communication through their sense of smell.
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Now the wrecking is over, but in the post-Reagan economy, the scabs are still everywhere.
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Such a storm had wrecked Mardonios' fleet off Athos twelve years before.
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The bomb was between us and the exit; it would probably blow in a moment, and wreck the whole bar.
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Think of it this way: Two people are wrecked on an island and one of them is fated to be murdered.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
nervous
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Just the thing for a twitching little nervous wreck who keeps passing out on her dinner dates.
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By the time my friends left, l was a nervous wreck .
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Of course, we hardly needed to say, as we made our way upstairs, that we were both nervous wrecks .
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Apparently some of them nervous wrecks .
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Before this watch was over she would be a nervous , screaming wreck .
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It had to be learnt, if we were not to turn into nervous wrecks .
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She was a nervous wreck , and all that was wrong with the child was measles.
old
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Ian MacDonald and he had stripped down the old wreck and searched junk yards for spare parts.
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Or maybe it was just some old wreck .
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All of a sudden they have kids to put through college or they're shacked up with some old wreck of a husband.
■ NOUN
car
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It strode through the black rain to the car wreck in the forecourt, sensing the presence of more food.
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Rain was hissing on the roof of the car wreck , fogging the scene still further.
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And surely, that's what caused the 18-\#car wreck .
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They leapt down the car wrecks and legged it across the ground towards the girl.
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Something was burning out there, not in the car wreck ... but beside it.
train
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If there were no blizzard to shut down Washington, there would still be the budget train wreck .
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And if the budget train wreck ended, there would still be -- political correctness.
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The show-biz story of the decade has spawned the cinematic train wreck of 1996.
■ VERB
find
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They found the wreck of the Medusa not long ago, off the coast of Mauretania.
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As she found out, wrecks were an integral part of Trepassey life.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Divers went down to search the wreck .
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Investigators are searching the wreck for clues as to why the plane crashed.
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It's embarrassing to be seen driving that old wreck .
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Mom looked like a complete wreck after the wedding.
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Nobody could have survived the wreck .
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Ten people were injured in the wreck .
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The car was a complete wreck , but the driver escaped with minor injuries.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Boss Mangan, the symbol of industrial and political might, is a love-stricken wreck easily manipulated by the go-getting Ellie Dunn.
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I held her, trying to appear calm and composed on the outside, a shaking wreck on the inside.
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If there were no blizzard to shut down Washington, there would still be the budget train wreck .
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She also looked like a total wreck !
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She felt an absolute wreck , yet at the same time she felt acutely self-aware.
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The wrecks massing on shore, the wrecks made of ships in open water.
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Without my exercise, I was a crying wreck .