Word of the Day: Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy (băngk’rŭpt’si) in a financial sense means a state of being unable to pay one’s debts. There are two kinds: liquidation, in which the debts are wiped out or discharged, and reorganization, in which the debtor provides the court with a plan for repayment. Figuratively, bankruptcy can mean a lack of some non-material value, such as “moral bankruptcy.” The adjective is bankrupt.

A $32 billion segment of Canada’s debt market was placed under bankruptcy protection on Monday after a committee established to restructure the troubled debt missed a settlement deadline. (New York Times)

Last week Medievalist Cram’s good New England name was in the news as the most noteworthy of 29 signed to a declaration that “Protestantism, once the religion of by far the greater part of the American people, is bankrupt ethically, culturally, morally and religiously. Its driving force, negative at best, has exhausted itself, and it has ceased to attract or to inspire. (Time)