Word.ws English Dictionary

ruined

Syllables: ru·inedUK/ˈruː.ɪnd//ˈɹuɪnd/

ruined is the simple past and past participle of ruin.

Adjective

ruined (comparative more ruined, superlative most ruined)

  1. In a state of ruin; dilapidated.
    • At the west end of the street is the ruined 13th-century hospice, known locally as Pilgrims' Rest.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 261, about Llawhaden
    Synonyms:
    undone
  2. Bankrupt.
  3. (slang) incapacitated by drugs or alcohol

Meaning of ruin

Verb

ruin (third-person singular simple present ruins, present participle ruining, simple past and past participle ruined or (dialectal, nonstandard) ruint)

  1. (transitive) To cause the fiscal ruin of; to bankrupt or drive out of business.
    • With all these purchases, you surely mean to ruin us!
  2. To destroy or render something no longer usable or operable.
    • He ruined his new white slacks by accidentally spilling oil on them.
  3. 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
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. To make (someone) have a ruined orgasm.

See all 16 meanings of ruin

Synonyms of ruined

Forms of ruined

comparativemore ruined
superlativemost ruined

Words formed from ruined

Questions about ruined

What does ruined mean?
Ruined means in a state of ruin; dilapidated.
What is ruined the simple past and past participle of?
Ruined is the simple past and past participle of ruin.
What part of speech is ruined?
Ruined is an adjective.
How do you pronounce ruined?
Ruined is pronounced /ˈruː.ɪnd/ (UK).

Words near ruined in the dictionary

  1. ruinations
  2. ruinatious
  3. ruinator
  4. ruinators
  5. ruine
  6. ruined
  7. ruined orgasm
  8. Ruinenlust
  9. ruiner
  10. ruiners
  11. ruinest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ruined (page history and authors); 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-ruined.ogg.

Cite this entry: “ruined.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ruined. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.