These words apply to those who do not have enough money to meet their needs or to pay their debts. Insolvent refers to a debtor whose liabilities outweigh his assets and who therefore cannot meet the claims of his creditors. Both an individual and a business enterprise may be insolvent .

• People thought him well-to-do, but he died insolvent , his estate being insufficient to liquidate his debts; The ill-starred company survived from less than a year before becoming insolvent .

In law, bankrupt refers specifically to a person who or business which has been judicially declared insolvent . When, through the operation of a bankruptcy law, the actual insolvency of a debtor has been legally determined and his estate has been sequestrated, his assets are taken into judicial possession for equitable distribution among his creditors. The debtor, himself, is afterwards granted by judicial decree a full discharge from legal liability for his indebtedness. For this reason, someone deeply and hopelessly in debt may choose to or have to declare himself bankrupt .

• His business failed and he went bankrupt ; the business went into bankruptcy .

Loosely, any person who is unable to pay his debts in full may be called bankrupt . Bankrupt , in a popular sense, may also refer to utter ruin of any kind. In a figurative sense, it may mean destitute of some abstract quality, or hopelessly lacking, as in spiritual resources: a morally bankrupt society; a man bankrupt in spirit.

The remaining words focus on a lack of money rather than on indebtedness, implying empty pockets rather than red ink. Broke is the colloquial, everyday word. It is sometimes used informally as a substitute for insolvent or bankrupt : The business kept losing money and finally went broke . But broke is much broader in application than the previous pair of words. A person who cannot pay his bills may claim, or be said, to be broke ; but a person may also be broke without being in debt. Further, broke often applies to a temporary condition: a speculator often broke but never poor; flat broke the day before payday; coming home from the races stony broke . Impecunious comes from Latin roots and literally means without money. It may refer to a person who never has much money or who is frequently broke : an impecunious artist living in a garret. But it is a rather high-flown, pretentious word and is often in used a self-conscious way to give a humorous, lightly mocking effect.

• Sorry I can’t go with you, but I’m rather impecunious at the moment.