ruin
UK/ˈɹuː.ɪn/
ruin noun: the remains of a destroyed or dilapidated construction, such as a house or castle. Also the clipping of ruined orgasm.
Noun
ruin (countable and uncountable, plural ruins)
- The remains of a destroyed or dilapidated construction, such as a house or castle.
- The Veian and the Gabian towirs shall fall, / And one promiscuous ruin cover all; / Nor, after length of years, a stone betray / The place where once the very ruins lay.1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
- The labour of a day will not build up a virtuous habit on the ruins of an old and vicious character.a. 1812, Joseph Stevens Buckminster, sermon
- The state of being a ruin, destroyed or decayed.
- The monastery has fallen into ruin.
- Something that leads to serious trouble or destruction.
- Gambling has been the ruin of many.
- The errors of young men are the ruin of business.1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Youth and Age”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC
- The act of ruining something.
- Synonyms:
- wreckage
- A fall or tumble.
- His ruin startled th’ other steeds.[1611?], Homer, “(please specify |book=I to XXIV)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer...
- A change that destroys or defeats something; destruction; overthrow.
- the ruin of a ship or an army
- the ruin of a constitution or a government
- Complete financial loss; bankruptcy.
Verb
ruin (third-person singular simple present ruins, present participle ruining, simple past and past participle ruined or (dialectal, nonstandard) ruint)
- To cause the fiscal ruin of; to bankrupt or drive out of business.
- With all these purchases, you surely mean to ruin us!
- In one way, indeed, he bade fair to ruin us; for he kept on staying week after week, and at last month after month, so that all the money had been long exhausted...1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- beggar, destitute, pauperize, depauperate, depauperize, embeggar, empoverish, immiserate, impoor, impoverish
- To destroy or render something no longer usable or operable.
- He ruined his new white slacks by accidentally spilling oil on them.
- Synonyms:
- destroy, fordo, ruinate, annihilate, aerosolize, atomize, benothing, bewreck, blot out, blotto
- To destroy (e.g. a city) so as to leave ruins.
- By the fireside there are old men seated, / Seeing ruined cities in the ashes.1857, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Golden Mile-Stone
- To upset or overturn the plans or progress of, or to have a disastrous effect on something.
- My car breaking down just as I was on the road ruined my vacation.
- To make something less enjoyable or likeable.
- I used to love that song, but being assaulted when that song was playing ruined the song for me.
- To make (someone) have a ruined orgasm.
- To reveal the ending of (a story); to spoil.
- To fall into a state of decay.
- Though he his house of polisht marble build, / Yet shall it ruine like the Moth's fraile cell1636, George Sandys, Paraphrase upon the Psalmes and upon the Hymnes dispersed throughout the Old and New Testaments
- To seduce or debauch, and thus harm the social standing of.
- The young libertine was notorious for ruining local girls.
Also used as
ruin is also the clipping of ruined orgasm.
ruin meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam and Punjabi
ruin in Hindi
- remains of destroyed construction
- खँडहर khãḍhar, खंडहर khaṇḍhar, भग्नावशेष bhagnāvśeṣ
- the state of being a ruin, destroyed or decayed
- विनाश vināś, नाश nāś
- something which leads to serious troubles
- विनाश vināś, नाश nāś
ruin in Urdu
- remains of destroyed construction
- کَھنْڈَر khanḍar, کَھنْڈَرَات khanḍarāt, خَرَابَہ xarāba, وِیرانَہ vīrāna
ruin in Malayalam
- the state of being a ruin, destroyed or decayed
- നാശം nāśaṁ
- to destroy
- നശിപ്പിക്കുക naśippikkuka
- to spoil
- നശിപ്പിക്കുക naśippikkuka
ruin in Punjabi
- remains of destroyed construction
- ਖੰਡਰ khaṇḍar, ਢਾਠ ḍhāṭh
More languagesFewer languages
- ruin in Sanskrit
- नाश nāśa
- ruin in Tagalog
- gapo, bunlag, pagkagapo
- ruin in Arabic
- خَرَاب ḵarāb, خَرَابَة ḵarāba, طَلَل ṭalal, دَمَّرَ dammara
- ruin in Malay
- puing, runtuhan
- ruin in Indonesian
- puing
- ruin in Persian
- ویرانه virâne, خراب xarâb, خرابه xarâbe
- ruin in Vietnamese
- hư hại
Examples of ruin in a sentence
- the ruin of health or hopes
- Soon, only ruin and corpses will remain.2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Eden Prime:
- Not only is Jerusalem not a ruin, but she is at the height of her glory compared to all of Jewish history!2024, David Golinkin, “Naḥem On Tisha B'Av: Is It Permissible To Change The Wording?”, in Responsa in a Moment, volume 4, page 136:
- Most lone wolves had a moll at any rate—women were their ruin—but if the Bat had a moll, not even the grapevine telegraph could locate her.1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing...
Synonyms of ruin
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of ruin
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | ruins |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | ruins |
| present participle | ruining |
| past participle | ruined |
| past | ruined |
| past participle (nonstandard, dialectal) | ruint |
| past (nonstandard, dialectal) | ruint |
Origin of ruin
From Middle English ruyne, ruine, from Old French ruine, from Latin ruīna (“overthrow, ruin”), from ruō (“to fall down, tumble, sink in ruin, rush”).
Words formed from ruin
Phrases with ruin
Words that rhyme with ruin
Questions about ruin
- What does ruin mean?
- Ruin means the remains of a destroyed or dilapidated construction, such as a house or castle.
- What is ruin in Hindi?
- Ruin in Hindi is खँडहर (khãḍhar), खंडहर (khaṇḍhar), भग्नावशेष (bhagnāvśeṣ). See Ruin meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use ruin in a sentence?
- the ruin of health or hopes
- What part of speech is ruin?
- Ruin can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce ruin?
- Ruin is pronounced /ˈɹuː.ɪn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of ruin?
- The plural of ruin is ruins.
Words near ruin in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ruin (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ruin.ogg.
Cite this entry: “ruin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ruin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.