1
a
: broken fragments (as of rock) resulting from the decay or destruction of a building
fortifications knocked into rubble—
C. S. Forester
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
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
Ghada Abdulfattah, The Atlantic, 21 Oct. 2025
The first phase of the agreement is still in motion, with Hamas yet to hand over the bodies of the remaining 15 hostages to Israel, citing difficulty in retrieving them from the rubble.
—Shane Croucher, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Oct. 2025
Those are only the deceased who could be found and identified – at least 10,000 people are buried in the ruins, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense, whose teams are sifting through millions of tons of rubble and thousands of unexploded Israeli munitions among it.
—Kara Fox, CNN Money, 19 Oct. 2025
The first step for Palestinians is clearing the rubble, and then getting supplies needed for reconstruction, says NPR's Greg Myre, who is in Tel Aviv.
—Brittney Melton, NPR, 17 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rubble
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Noun
No one knows whether these people are alive, buried under rubble, detained, or dead.
—Ghada Abdulfattah, The Atlantic, 21 Oct. 2025
The first phase of the agreement is still in motion, with Hamas yet to hand over the bodies of the remaining 15 hostages to Israel, citing difficulty in retrieving them from the rubble.
—Shane Croucher, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Oct. 2025
Those are only the deceased who could be found and identified – at least 10,000 people are buried in the ruins, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense, whose teams are sifting through millions of tons of rubble and thousands of unexploded Israeli munitions among it.
—Kara Fox, CNN Money, 19 Oct. 2025
The first step for Palestinians is clearing the rubble, and then getting supplies needed for reconstruction, says NPR's Greg Myre, who is in Tel Aviv.
—Brittney Melton, NPR, 17 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rubble
Cite this Entry
“Rubble.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rubble. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.
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