rubble

1 of 2

noun

rub·​ble ˈrə-bəl 

1

a

: broken fragments (as of rock) resulting from the decay or destruction of a building

… fortifications knocked into rubble.

—C. S. Forester

b

: a miscellaneous confused mass or group of usually broken or worthless things

2

: waterworn or rough broken stones or bricks used in coarse masonry or in filling courses of walls

3

: rough stone as it comes from the quarry

rubble

2 of 2

verb

rubbled; rubbling ˈrə-b(ə-)liŋ 

transitive verb

: to reduce to rubble

Synonyms of rubble

Noun

• debris
• wreckage
• ruins
• remains
• ashes

Examples of rubble in a Sentence

Noun

Rescue workers managed to pull two injured people out of the rubble.

The earthquake reduced the whole town to rubble.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Officials finally directed her to a port facility that had been turned into an emergency morgue after countless bodies were unearthed from the rubble in the days following the earthquake. — Susana Erazo, CNN Money, 17 July 2026

There are estimated to be 11,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in deep craters or under tall mounds of rubble, drowned in earth without a proper burial. — Literary Hub, 16 July 2026

By Thursday morning, only the awning was still standing amid the rubble, as passersby gawked and cars slowed down to survey what had happened. — Claire Harutunian, Charlotte Observer, 16 July 2026

Rodríguez rejected social media reports alleging that rubble was being dumped into the Caribbean Sea, insisting the government intends to recycle much of the material. — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 13 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English robyl

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1944, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for rubble

• bubble
• double
• stubble
• trouble
• redouble

Kids Definition

rubble

noun

rub·​ble

ˈrəb-əl

1

: rough broken stones or bricks used in building

2

: a confused mass of rough or broken things