rubble

1 of 2

noun

rub·​ble ˈrə-bəl How to pronounce rubble (audio)
1
a
: broken fragments (as of rock) resulting from the decay or destruction of a building
fortifications knocked into rubbleC. 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 How to pronounce rubble (audio)

transitive verb

: to reduce to rubble

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
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.
Noun
Their tasks frequently involve manual tools -cutting debris, drilling through rubble, or lifting objects, etc. Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 9 Sep. 2025 Weeks of search and rescue efforts ensued, but no one was found alive in the rubble. Devoun Cetoute, Miami Herald, 9 Sep. 2025 Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said an infant's body was pulled from the rubble in the Darnytskyi district, where a four-story apartment building was damaged. Lidia Kelly, USA Today, 7 Sep. 2025 Residential buildings targeted Rescuers found the body of an infant under the rubble of a building in the western Kyiv neighborhood of Sviatoshynskyi, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration. Svitlana Vlasova, CNN Money, 7 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for rubble

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of rubble was in the 14th century

Cite this Entry

“Rubble.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rubble. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.

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

More from Merriam-Webster on rubble

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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