Meanings
plural home wreckers · alternative homewrecker
- derogatoryidiomaticslangA person who gains the affections of someone already married or engaged, and thus causes the dissolution of the marriage or engagement.
Knots Landing surged even higher in the ratings once Donna Mills was added as the neighborhood home wrecker Abby.
2016, David Bianculli, The Platinum Age of Television […] , Anchor, →ISBN, page 1401 more example
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.
1963 (date written), John Kennedy Toole, chapter 3, in A Confederacy of Dunces, London: Penguin Books, published 1980 (1981 printing), →ISBN, page 55Synonyms: homebreaker
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA person who gains the affections of someone already married or engaged, and thus causes the dissolution of the marriage or engagement.
Origin
From home + wrecker, suggesting the breakup of a household.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Esperanto hejmorompanto, hejmorompantino
- hejmorompantoone who becomes romantically involved with a married person
- hejmorompantinoone who becomes romantically involved with a married person
German Familienzerstörer, Ehezerstörer
- Familienzerstörerone who becomes romantically involved with a married person
- Ehezerstörerone who becomes romantically involved with a married person
Italian rovinafamiglie, sfasciafamiglie
- rovinafamiglieone who becomes romantically involved with a married person
- sfasciafamiglieone who becomes romantically involved with a married person
Japanese 泥棒猫, 盗人猫
- 泥棒猫 (dorobō neko)one who becomes romantically involved with a married person
- 盗人猫 (nusuttoneko)one who becomes romantically involved with a married person
Portuguese destruidor de lares, destruidora de lares
- destruidor de laresone who becomes romantically involved with a married person
- destruidora de laresone who becomes romantically involved with a married person
Russian разлу́чница
- разлу́чница (razlúčnica)one who becomes romantically involved with a married person
Spanish rompehogares, quitamaridos
- rompehogaresone who becomes romantically involved with a married person
- quitamaridosone who becomes romantically involved with a married person
- quitaesposasone who becomes romantically involved with a married person
- robaesposasone who becomes romantically involved with a married person
Cite this entry
home wrecker. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/home%20wrecker
“home wrecker.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/home%20wrecker. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “home wrecker,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/home%20wrecker.
Source: home wrecker on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.