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home wrecker

home wrecker

9 7.9
A person who has a romantic relationship with someone married or in a relationship, causing it to end
  • noun
  • /hoʊm ˈrɛkər/
  • Offensive
translation icon : rompehogares
  • She was labeled a home wrecker after having an affair with her best friend's husband.
  • the alleged home wrecker
  • calling her a home wrecker

Like, she was like, oh, like you're a home wrecker, you know, how could you do that?

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Examples

Synonyms

homewrecker
vshome wrecker
  • Offensive
5 8.2

A person who causes a couple to break up

is written as two separate words rather than one

How Responsible

home wrecker
  • Offensive
9 7.9
adulterer
  • NSFW
21 6.8
third party
87 3.9
lover
614 1.0

Surface Forms

home wrecker singular
home wreckers plural

Morphology

home + wrecker

The compound transparently combines 'home' (house/family) with 'wrecker' (one who destroys), so a learner can infer someone who 'destroys a home' — i.e., harms the family or household. However, understanding it specifically as a person who causes a relationship/marriage breakup (often via an affair) requires recognizing a metaphorical extension of 'home' to family/relationship and applying 'wrecker' to people rather than property, so the meaning is only partly predictable.

Etymology

Home wrecker gives a simple image: a wrecker tears down things and a home is a family's house, so you can picture someone who 'tears down a home'. That's why it means 'a person who causes the breakup of a marriage or serious relationship'.