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

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

An artificial peninsula could be constructed on the coast of the Gaza Strip, built in phases from the rubble that the war has produced. —Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, The Atlantic, 23 Sep. 2025

Someone will have to rebuild America from the philosophical rubble to which it is being daily reduced; cities, with their churning cycles of slide and renewal, may produce the kind of leaders that will be desperately needed. —Bill McKibben, New Yorker, 23 Sep. 2025

The story doesn’t end with rubble. —Ronnie Li, USA Today, 23 Sep. 2025

Today, they’re filled with broken columns and other rubble, likely dumped there when the city was abandoned. —Barry Neild, CNN Money, 23 Sep. 2025

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