total loss

total loss (plural total losses)

1. (accounting) An insured item of which the entire value is written off.

   Synonyms: writeoff, write-off

   Coordinate terms: writedown, write-down

2. (insurance) An insured item that is written off when it is beyond repair, or when the cost of repair exceeds the insured value.

   The ship was declared a constructive total loss.

   • 1866 August 18, “LAST NEWS OF ANNA BISHOP”, in The Musical World‎, volume 44, number 33, London, →OCLC, page 521:

     Intelligence has been received at Hong Kong of the total loss of the ship Libelle while on a voyage to that port from San Francisco, having on board a valuable cargo and specie to the extent of £76,000 in dollars, and a number of passengers, among whom were Madame Anna Bishop, Miss Phelan, Mr. M. Schrutz, and Mr. Charles Lascelles, of the English Opera Company, who, with other artists, were on a musical tour. The ship was cast away on the night of the 4th of March, on an uninhabited and dangerous reef called Wake Island, in the China Seas.

• (to cause total loss): total (verb)

• Dutch: total loss
• Hebrew: טוטל לוס (totál los)