- a person or thing that ruins or destroys
- chiefly US Canadian a person whose job is to demolish buildings or dismantle cars
- (formerly) a person who lures ships to destruction to plunder the wreckage
- US Canadian
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
wreck•er /ˈrɛkɚ/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- one that wrecks.
- Transporta vehicle equipped to tow wrecked or disabled automobiles.
- a person or business that demolishes and removes buildings.
wreck•er
(rek′ər),USA pronunciation n.
- a person or thing that wrecks.
- Rail Transporta person, car, or train employed in removing wreckage, debris, etc., as from railroad tracks.
- TransportAlso called tow car, tow truck. a vehicle equipped with a mechanical apparatus for hoisting and pulling, used to tow wrecked, disabled, or stalled automobiles.
- Also called housewrecker. a person whose business it is to demolish and remove houses or other buildings, as in clearing sites for other use.
- Nauticala person or vessel employed in recovering salvage from wrecked or disabled vessels.
- Nauticala person who plunders wrecks, esp. after exhibiting false signals in order to cause shipwrecks.
- wreck + -er1 1795–1805
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
wrecker /ˈrɛkə/ n
'wrecker' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):