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View synonyms for wrecker

wrecker

[ rek-er ]

noun

  1. a person or thing that wrecks.
  2. a person, car, or train employed in removing wreckage, debris, etc., as from railroad tracks.
  3. Also called tow car, tow truck. a vehicle equipped with a mechanical apparatus for hoisting and pulling, used to tow wrecked, disabled, or stalled automobiles.
  4. Also called housewrecker. a person whose business it is to demolish and remove houses or other buildings, as in clearing sites for other use.
  5. a person or vessel employed in recovering salvage from wrecked or disabled vessels.
  6. a person who plunders wrecks, especially after exhibiting false signals in order to cause shipwrecks.


wrecker

/ ˈrɛkə /

noun

  1. a person or thing that ruins or destroys
  2. a person whose job is to demolish buildings or dismantle cars
  3. (formerly) a person who lures ships to destruction to plunder the wreckage
  4. another word for tow truck
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Word History and Origins

Origin of wrecker1

First recorded in 1795–1805; wreck + -er 1
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Example Sentences

We invented a trusted magical figure, turned him into a home wrecker, and pump those lyrics into the backseat all December long.

“I remember these kids coming up to me and calling me a ‘home-wrecker,’” Cardellini told The Daily Beast.

I remember these kids coming up to me and calling me a “home-wrecker,” and so I had flashes of that going into my role on Mad Men.

He had been a smuggler, a wrecker, a pirate; his hand was red with blood, his soul dark with the soil of crime.

In some places even a wrecker's foot-path down the bank lasts several years.

No; the vital defect of The Wrecker must be set down to Mr. Stevenson's account.

It makes no difference whether Whitmore was a home-wrecker or a man of the utmost probity.

As our vessel was not noted for fast sailing, we accepted an invitation to go on board of a Wrecker.

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