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

Khaled Mashaal, a Hamas leader, said in an interview with Al Jazeera that Gaza needs the rehabilitation of hospitals, the entry of heavy machinery to remove rubble, and the opening of the Rafah crossing. —Arkansas Online, 12 Dec. 2025

The photographs, taken by Getty Images on December 8, show construction workers on site among the rubble of where the 123-year-old East Wing once stood. —News Editor, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2025

Trump is a creature of the Manhattan-real-estate world; Putin grew up amid the rubble of postwar Leningrad. —Andrew Ryvkin, The Atlantic, 6 Dec. 2025

That parent body later drifted into the inner solar system, broke apart in the asteroid belt, and eventually reassembled into the rubble-pile asteroid now known as Bennu. —Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 3 Dec. 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