ruins 1 of 2

present tense third-person singular of ruin
1
as in bankrupts
to cause to lose one's fortune and become unable to pay one's debts after he was ruined by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the industrialist was forced to sell his mansion and start all over again

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2
3
as in destroys
to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of a huge fire that ruined an entire city block

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ruins

2 of 2

noun

plural of ruin

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for ruins
Verb
  • Development not only disturbs or destroys the soil, but wipes out habitat.
    Carl R. Gold, Baltimore Sun, 30 Mar. 2025
  • First, allowing utilities to own generation destroys the competitive market.
    Mary Beth Tung, Baltimore Sun, 27 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • Responding firefighters helped remove the injured man from the rubble.
    Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 5 June 2025
  • The pair found the artifact in a pile of rubble near former infantry barracks.
    Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 4 June 2025
Noun
  • The planet-wide dust storms are so fierce that the debris often does not settle for months at a time.
    Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, 15 June 2025
  • In Lyme and Old Saybrook, there is little flooding but reports of tremendous amounts of debris flowing into Long Island Sound.
    Staff report, Hartford Courant, 14 June 2025
Noun
  • Sole apparent survivor of Air India crash walks away from wreckage If a plane's tail section sheers off, a seat closer to the front will typically be safer.
    USA TODAY STAFF, USA Today, 14 June 2025
  • According to Braithwaite, this relative position in relation to the wreckage may have been a key factor.
    Soo Kim, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 June 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Ruins.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ruins. Accessed 19 Jun. 2025.

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