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

3. (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^[1], 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)

total loss (not comparable)

1. (technology) A system in which the working fluid is used once and then dumped, burned up, etc. rather than being recirculated. By extension, an electrical system that runs on battery power without the means to recharge during operation.

   Some rocket engines have a total loss hydraulic system for engine gimbal, using fuel bled from the main turbopumps as the working fluid.