wrack

/ræk/

Other forms: wracked; wracking; wracks

Wrack is when something falls into disrepair. When an old house deteriorates, you can describe its wrack, or the process of its crumbling collapse.

You're most likely to come across the noun wrack in the phrase "go to wrack and ruin." This is a descriptive way to talk about the collapse or gradual breakdown of something, either literal — "I hate to see that building go to wrack and ruin," or figurative — "Their marriage went to wrack and ruin after a year." In the fourteenth century, a wrack was a shipwreck, from the Middle Dutch wrak, or "wreck."

Definitions of wrack

1. noun

   the destruction or collapse of something
   “wrack and ruin”

   synonyms: rack

   type of:

   demolition, destruction, wipeout

   an event (or the result of an event) that completely destroys something
2. verb

   smash or break forcefully
   synonyms: bust up, wreck

   type of:

   destroy, ruin

   destroy completely; damage irreparably
3. noun

   growth of marine vegetation especially of the large forms such as rockweeds and kelp
   synonyms: sea wrack

   type of:

   seaweed

   plant growing in the sea, especially marine algae
4. noun

   dried seaweed especially that cast ashore
   type of:

   seaweed

   plant growing in the sea, especially marine algae