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Wreck vs Reckless - What's the difference?

wreck | reckless |

As a noun wreck

is something or someone that has been ruined.

As a verb wreck

is to destroy violently; to cause severe damage to something, to a point where it no longer works, or is useless.

As an adjective reckless is

careless or heedless; headstrong or rash.

wreck

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Something or someone that has been ruined.
  • He was an emotional wreck after the death of his wife.
  • The remains of something that has been severely damaged or worn down.
  • * Cowper
  • To the fair haven of my native home, / The wreck of what I was, fatigued I come.
  • An event in which something is damaged through collision.
  • * Addison
  • the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds
  • * Spenser
  • Hard and obstinate / As is a rock amidst the raging floods, / 'Gainst which a ship, of succour desolate, / Doth suffer wreck , both of herself and goods.
  • * J. R. Green
  • Its intellectual life was thus able to go on amidst the wreck of its political life.
  • (legal) Goods, etc. cast ashore by the sea after a shipwreck.
  • (Bouvier)

    Synonyms

    * crash * ruins

    Derived terms

    * shipwreck

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To destroy violently; to cause severe damage to something, to a point where it no longer works, or is useless.
  • He wrecked the car in a collision.
    That adulterous hussy wrecked my marriage!
  • * Shakespeare
  • Supposing that they saw the king's ship wrecked .
  • To ruin or dilapidate.
  • (Australia) To dismantle wrecked vehicles or other objects, to reclaim any useful parts.
  • To involve in a wreck; hence, to cause to suffer ruin; to balk of success, and bring disaster on.
  • * Daniel
  • Weak and envied, if they should conspire, / They wreck themselves.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Antonyms

    * build * construct * make * produce

    Derived terms

    * bewreck * wrecker * wreckage

    References

    reckless

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l), (l) (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Careless or heedless; headstrong or rash.
  • Indifferent to danger or the consequences.
  • Antonyms

    * (l)

    Derived terms

    * recklessness

    Anagrams

    *