/ ˈbæŋkrʌpt; NAmE / adjective , noun , verb
■ adjective
1.
without enough money to pay what you owe
SYN insolvent :
They went bankrupt in 1993.
The company was declared bankrupt in the High Court.
2.
bankrupt (of sth) ( formal , disapproving ) completely lacking in anything that has value :
a government bankrupt of new ideas
a society that is morally bankrupt
■ noun
( law ) a person who has been judged by a court to be unable to pay his or her debts
■ verb
[ vn ] to make sb bankrupt :
The company was almost bankrupted by legal costs.
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WORD ORIGIN
mid 16th cent.: from Italian banca rotta broken bench, from banca (from medieval Latin banca , bancus , of Germanic origin) and rompere to break. The change in the ending was due to association with Latin rupt- broken.