Library / English Dictionary

SHIPWRECK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A wrecked ship (or a part of one)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("shipwreck" is a kind of...):

ship (a vessel that carries passengers or freight)

Derivation:

shipwreck (destroy a ship)

shipwreck (cause to experience shipwreck)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An accident that destroys a ship at sea

Synonyms:

shipwreck; wreck

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("shipwreck" is a kind of...):

accident (an unfortunate mishap; especially one causing damage or injury)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shipwreck"):

capsizing ((nautical) the event of a boat accidentally turning over in the water)

Derivation:

shipwreck (destroy a ship)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An irretrievable loss

Example:

that was the shipwreck of their romance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("shipwreck" is a kind of...):

ruin; ruination (an event that results in destruction)

Derivation:

shipwreck (suffer failure, as in some enterprise)

shipwreck (ruin utterly)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Destroy a ship

Example:

The vessel was shipwrecked

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "shipwreck" is one way to...):

destroy; ruin (destroy completely; damage irreparably)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

shipwreck (a wrecked ship (or a part of one))

shipwreck (an accident that destroys a ship at sea)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to experience shipwreck

Example:

They were shipwrecked in one of the mysteries at sea

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "shipwreck" is one way to...):

subject (cause to experience or suffer or make liable or vulnerable to)

Domain category:

seafaring; water travel (travel by water)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

shipwreck (a wrecked ship (or a part of one))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Suffer failure, as in some enterprise

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "shipwreck" is one way to...):

fail; go wrong; miscarry (be unsuccessful)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

shipwreck (an irretrievable loss)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Ruin utterly

Example:

You have shipwrecked my career

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "shipwreck" is one way to...):

ruin (destroy or cause to fail)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

shipwreck (an irretrievable loss)

Credits

 Context examples: 

I begin to think, Watson, said Holmes, that I make a mistake in explaining. ‘Omne ignotum pro magnifico,’ you know, and my poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I am so candid.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Or is it a misconception of mine that shipwrecked people are always shown every consideration? This is such a little thing, you know. We are so close to land.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He glanced at Ruth for reassurance, much in the same manner that a passenger, with sudden panic thought of possible shipwreck, will strive to locate the life preservers.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It was a pleasant key to touch, for Mr. Peggotty suddenly burst into a roar of laughter, and rubbed his hands up and down his legs, as he had been accustomed to do when he enjoyed himself in the long-shipwrecked boat.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It seems, upon my first reaching the shore after our shipwreck, I was in such confusion, that before I came to the place where I went to sleep, my hat, which I had fastened with a string to my head while I was rowing, and had stuck on all the time I was swimming, fell off after I came to land; the string, as I conjecture, breaking by some accident, which I never observed, but thought my hat had been lost at sea.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Part of the most remote island archipelago on Earth, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monumen is home to more than 7,000 marine species, including coral, fish, seals, turtles, whales, and several shipwrecks, and serves as the final resting place for more than 3,000 sailors and soldiers who served during World War II.

(National monument in Hawaii becomes world's largest marine protected area, NOAA)

Steerforth told a story of a dismal shipwreck (which arose out of his talk with Mr. Peggotty), as if he saw it all before him—and little Em'ly's eyes were fastened on him all the time, as if she saw it too.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I therefore told the officer, that having been shipwrecked on the coast of Balnibarbi, and cast on a rock, I was received up into Laputa, or the flying island (of which he had often heard), and was now endeavouring to get to Japan, whence I might find a convenience of returning to my own country.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

We passed the night at the old house, which, freed from the presence of the Heeps, seemed purged of a disease; and I lay in my old room, like a shipwrecked wanderer come home.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)