Crash vs. Wreck — What's the Difference?

To break violently or noisily; smash

The destruction of a ship at sea; a shipwreck

To undergo sudden damage or destruction on impact

Something, especially a vehicle or building, that has been badly damaged or destroyed

To make a sudden loud noise

A person whose physical or mental health or strength has failed

To move noisily or so as to cause damage

Cause the destruction of (a ship) by sinking or breaking up

To undergo a sudden severe downturn, as a market or economy.

Destroy or severely damage (a structure, vehicle, or similar)

(Computers) To stop functioning due to a crash.

Engage in breaking up badly damaged vehicles or demolishing old buildings to obtain usable spares or scrap.

(Slang) To undergo a period of unpleasant feeling or depression as an aftereffect of drug-taking.

The act of destroying or the state of being destroyed; destruction

To find temporary lodging or shelter, as for the night.

Accidental destruction of a ship; a shipwreck.

To fall asleep from exhaustion.

The stranded hulk of a severely damaged ship.

To cause to crash

Fragments of a ship or its cargo cast ashore by the sea after a shipwreck; wreckage.

To dash to pieces; smash

An automobile or railroad collision or accident

(Informal) To join or enter (a party, for example) without invitation.

The remains of something that has been wrecked, especially an automobile that has crashed

A sudden loud noise, as of an object breaking

Something that is dilapidated or worn out

A smashing to pieces.

A person who is physically or mentally worn out.

A collision, as between two automobiles.

To cause the destruction of in a collision

A sudden severe downturn

To dismantle or raze; tear down.

A sudden failure of a hard drive caused by damaging contact between the head and the storage surface, often resulting in the loss of data on the drive.

To cause to undergo ruin or disaster

A sudden failure of a program or operating system, usually without serious consequences.

To suffer destruction or ruin; become wrecked

(Slang) Mental depression after drug-taking.

(Informal) To experience or cause an accident in which the vehicle one is riding in is badly damaged

A coarse, light, unevenly woven fabric of cotton or linen, used for towels and curtains.

To work as a wrecker.

Starched reinforced fabric used to strengthen a book binding or the spine of a bound book.

Something or someone that has been ruined.

Of or characterized by an intensive effort to produce or accomplish

The remains of something that has been severely damaged or worn down.

A sudden, intense, loud sound, as made for example by cymbals.

An event in which something is damaged through collision.

An automobile, airplane, or other vehicle accident.

A shipwreck: an event in which a ship is heavily damaged or destroyed.

(computing) A malfunction of computer software or hardware which causes it to shut down or become partially or totally inoperable.

Goods, etc. cast ashore by the sea after a shipwreck.

(finance) A sudden large decline of business or the prices of stocks (especially one that causes additional failures).

(ornithology) A large number of birds that have been brought to the ground, injured or dead, by extremely adverse weather.

(informal) A comedown from a drug.

(transitive) To destroy violently; to cause severe damage to something, to a point where it no longer works, or is useless.

(collective) A group of rhinoceroses.

(transitive) To ruin or dilapidate.

(ecology) A sudden decline in any living form's population levels, often leading to extinction.

To dismantle wrecked vehicles or other objects, to reclaim any useful parts.

(textiles) A type of rough linen.

(transitive) To involve in a wreck; hence, to cause to suffer ruin; to balk of success, and bring disaster on.

Quick, fast, intensive, impromptu.

(intransitive) To be involved in a wreck; to be damaged or destroyed.

(intransitive) To collide with something destructively, fall or come down violently.

See 2d & 3d Wreak.

(transitive) To severely damage or destroy something by causing it to collide with something else.

To destroy, disable, or seriously damage, as a vessel, by driving it against the shore or on rocks, by causing it to become unseaworthy, to founder, or the like; to shipwreck.

To accelerate a project or a task or its schedule by devoting more resources to it.

To bring wreck or ruin upon by any kind of violence; to destroy, as a railroad train.

To make or experience informal temporary living arrangements, especially overnight.

To involve in a wreck; hence, to cause to suffer ruin; to balk of success, and bring disaster on.

To give, as a favor.

To suffer wreck or ruin.

To lie down for a long rest, sleep or nap, as from tiredness or exhaustion.

To work upon a wreck, as in saving property or lives, or in plundering.

To terminate extraordinarily.

The destruction or injury of a vessel by being cast on shore, or on rocks, or by being disabled or sunk by the force of winds or waves; shipwreck.

To cause to terminate extraordinarily.

Destruction or injury of anything, especially by violence; ruin; as, the wreck of a railroad train.

(intransitive) To experience a period of depression and/or lethargy after a period of euphoria, as after the euphoric effect of a psychotropic drug has dissipated.

The ruins of a ship stranded; a ship dashed against rocks or land, and broken, or otherwise rendered useless, by violence and fracture; as, they burned the wreck.

(transitive) To hit or strike with force

The remain of anything ruined or fatally injured.

To take a sudden and severe turn for the worse; to rapidly deteriorate.

Goods, etc., which, after a shipwreck, are cast upon the land by the sea.

To make a sudden loud noise.

Something or someone that has suffered ruin or dilapidation;

To break in pieces violently; to dash together with noise and violence.

An accident that destroys a ship at sea

To make a loud, clattering sound, as of many things falling and breaking at once; to break in pieces with a harsh noise.

A serious accident (usually involving one or more vehicles);

To break with violence and noise; as, the chimney in falling crashed through the roof.

A ship that has been destroyed at sea

A loud, sudden, confused sound, as of many things falling and breaking at once.

Smash or break forcefully;

Ruin; failure; sudden breaking down, as of a business house or a commercial enterprise.

Coarse, heavy, narrow linen cloth, used esp. for towels.

A loud resonant repeating noise;

A serious accident (usually involving one or more vehicles);

A sudden large decline of business or the prices of stocks (especially one that causes additional failures)

The act of colliding with something;

(computer science) an event that causes a computer system to become inoperative;

Fall or come down violently;

Move with, or as if with, a crashing noise;

Undergo damage or destruction on impact;

Move violently as through a barrier;

Break violently or noisily; smash;

Occupy, usually uninvited;

Enter uninvited; informal;

Cause to crash;

Hurl or thrust violently;

Undergo a sudden and severe downturn;

Stop operating;

Sleep in a convenient place;