Business word of the day: Bankrupt
Hello everyone,
Welcome to the first “word of the week”, though it may happen more often than just once a week.
Today’s word is bankrupt, normally used as a noun or as an adjective. We’ll also look at the general noun bankruptcy.
The meaning according to the Free Online Dictionary (a great resource) is:
Noun
-a debtor that, upon voluntary petition or one invoked by the debtor’s creditors, is judged legally insolvent. The debtor’s remaining property is then administered for the creditors or is distributed among them.
Adj.
a. Having been legally declared financially insolvent.
b. Financially ruined; impoverished.
What does all this mean? It means a person or company doesn’t have enough money to pay its debts (money it owes to people called “creditors”). So if you owe a bank lots of money but your job doesn’t pay you enough to give you the ability to pay the bank back (= you’re insolvent), you can declare yourself “bankrupt.” When you do this the court appoints a person to control your finances, selling much of your property and paying the people you owe money to. In the end you won’t have much, but your finances will be in order and your old creditors can no longer claim money from you. For practical advice on bankruptcies (and some reading practice) see this website.
After declaring “bankruptcy”, the general noun for this idea, it is more difficult to get bank loans or credit cards (financial institutions won’t trust you as much). However, many famous people have filed for bankruptcy (including Rembrandt, Mark Twain, Henry Ford, Walt Disney) and many have become successful afterwards. In America, the federal law regulating bankruptcy is divided into chapters, so you will often hear or read references to “Chapter 11″ or “Chapter 7.”
Ways to use it: sentences
He is bankrupt.
He is nearly bankrupt.
The company went bankrupt 10 years ago.
They will declare bankruptcy tomorrow.
She filed for bankruptcy.
She filed for Chapter 11.
There were many bankruptcies last month.
Ways to use it: collocations:
be bankrupt
become bankrupt
go bankrupt
declare someone bankrupt
almost bankrupt
nearly bankrupt
personal bankruptcy
face bankruptcy
be close to bankruptcy
be forced into bankruptcy
file for bankruptcy
be saved from bankruptcy
bankruptcy order
the threat of bankruptcy
Ok, that’s enough for bankrupt I think. If you have any questions, follow the links or comment here and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
Kris
