a state of complete lack of some abstract property
"spiritual bankruptcy"
"moral bankruptcy"
"intellectual bankruptcy"
inability to discharge all your debts as they come due
"the company had to declare bankruptcy"
"fraudulent loans led to the failure of many banks"
a legal process intended to insure equality among the creditors of a corporation declared to be insolvent
"The company's bankruptcy proceedings were designed to distribute its remaining assets equally among all its creditors."
A legally declared or recognized condition of insolvency of a person or organization.
"After years of mounting debt, the struggling corporation faced bankruptcy and was forced to liquidate all its assets."
In plain English: Bankruptcy is when someone or a business has so much debt they can no longer pay it back and must give up their assets to clear the balance.
"The small business filed for bankruptcy after losing all its customers to a larger competitor."
Usage: Bankruptcy refers to the legal state where an individual or entity cannot repay their debts and seeks court protection. It describes the formal condition of insolvency rather than the specific act of filing for relief.
The word bankruptcy comes from combining the term bankrupt with the suffix -cy to replace an older form called bankruptship. This formation created a new noun to describe the state of being unable to pay one's debts.