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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

ruin.

The remains of a destroyed or dilapidated construction, such as a house or castle.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈɹuː.ɪn/UK, US[ˈɹuwɪn]UK, US
  1. The remains of a destroyed or dilapidated construction, such as a house or castle.

    countable · in-plural · sometimes
  2. The state of being a ruin, destroyed or decayed.

    uncountable
    The monastery has fallen into ruin.
  3. Something that leads to serious trouble or destruction.

    uncountable
    Gambling has been the ruin of many.
  4. The act of ruining something.

    countable · uncountable
  5. The act of ruining something. Clipping of ruined orgasm

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping · countable · uncountable
  6. A fall or tumble.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  7. A change that destroys or defeats something; destruction; overthrow.

    countable · uncountable
    the ruin of a ship or an army
    the ruin of a constitution or a government
  8. Complete financial loss; bankruptcy.

    uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English ruyne, ruine, from Old French ruine, from Latin ruīna (“overthrow, ruin”), from ruō (“to fall down, tumble, sink in ruin, rush”).

verb/ˈɹuː.ɪn/UK, US[ˈɹuwɪn]UK, US
  1. To cause the fiscal ruin of; to bankrupt or drive out of business.

    transitive
    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.

  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.

  7. To reveal the ending of (a story); to spoil.

  8. To fall into a state of decay.

    obsolete
  9. To seduce or debauch, and thus harm the social standing of.

    historical · transitive
    The young libertine was notorious for ruining local girls.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English ruyne, ruine, from Old French ruine, from Latin ruīna (“overthrow, ruin”), from ruō (“to fall down, tumble, sink in ruin, rush”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.