home wrecker

See also: homewrecker

English

Alternative forms

• homewrecker

Etymology

From home +‎ wrecker, suggesting the breakup of a household.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

home wrecker (plural home wreckers)

1. (slang, derogatory) A person who gains the affections of someone already married or engaged, and thus causes the dissolution of the marriage or engagement.

   Synonym: homebreaker

   • 1963 (date written), John Kennedy Toole, chapter 3, in A Confederacy of Dunces, London: Penguin Books, published 1980 (1981 printing), →ISBN, page 55:

     I, unfortunately, was the prey of a vicious, depraved B-girl. In addition, the proprietress is a Nazi. We barely escaped with our lives. Go investigate that gang and let us alone, you homewrecker.

   • 2016, David Bianculli, The Platinum Age of Television […] , Anchor, →ISBN, page 140:

     Knots Landing surged even higher in the ratings once Donna Mills was added as the neighborhood home wrecker Abby.

Hyponyms

• other man (men only)
• other woman (women only)

See also

• housewrecker

Translations

one who becomes romantically involved with a married man or woman

• Esperanto: hejmorompanto m or c, hejmorompantino f
• German: Familienzerstörer m, Ehezerstörer m
• Italian: rovinafamiglie (it) f, sfasciafamiglie m or m pl or f or f pl
• Japanese: 泥棒猫 (ja) (どろぼうねこ, dorobō neko)
• Portuguese: destruidor de lares m, destruidora de lares f
• Russian: разлу́чница (ru) f (razlúčnica)
• Spanish: rompehogares m or f, quitamaridos f, quitaesposas m, robaesposas m