ruin
ruin Lexical Profile
ruin Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To damage, spoil, or destroy something so severely that it loses its value, beauty, or usefulness.
"A sudden downpour threatened to ruin the outdoor concert."
To reduce a person or organization to poverty, bankruptcy, or a total loss of social standing.
"The prolonged lawsuit threatened to ruin the small family business."
• noun
The physical destruction or disintegration of something, or the state of disintegrating or being destroyed.
"Years of neglect had allowed the historic manor to fall into complete ruin."
The remaining crumbling pieces of a building, city, or structure that has decayed or been destroyed, often used in the plural.
"Archaeologists spent the summer excavating the ancient Roman ruins near the coast."
The complete loss of a person's or organization's money, status, reputation, or prospects.
"Unwise speculative investments eventually led the merchant bank to financial ruin."
• Rhymes for ruin
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Old French 'ruine', from Latin 'ruina' meaning 'a collapse, fall, or downfall', derived from the verb 'ruere' ('to rush down, fall violently, or collapse').