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go bust

verb

To become bankrupt.

“Several thousand companies go bust in the UK each year.”

Similar

go bankrupt go under go belly-up

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Meanings

verbgo bust (third-person singular simple present goes bust, present participle going bust, simple past went bust, past participle gone bust)

present singular third person goes bust · participle present going bust · past went bust · participle past gone bust

intransitiveTo become bankrupt.
Several thousand companies go bust in the UK each year.
2 more examples
Steam gave a last hurrah for some, but North British went bust in 1962, unable to make the transition to modern traction.
2025 January 8, Philip Haigh, “Will all of the UK train assembly lines survive?”, in RAIL, number 1026, page 50
It is not difficult to believe [...] that if an extra pat of butter were given on any one morning to each of the five hunderd boys the school would (to use their elegant expression) go bust!
1904, F. D. How, Six Great Schoolmasters, London: Methuen, page 235
Synonyms: go bankrupt, go under, go belly-up

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo become bankrupt.

Similar

go bankrupt go under go belly-up

Also see

go bankrupt go up

Cite this entry

APA

go bust. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20bust

MLA

“go bust.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20bust. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “go bust,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20bust.

Source: go bust on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.