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

The grant pursued by the city, part of the EPA Brownfields Program, requires that officials foster community input on the future development of the site once the rubble is hauled away. —Jake Goodrick, Sacbee.com, 7 Oct. 2025

Who will be discovered under the rubble? —Brittney Melton, NPR, 7 Oct. 2025

Despite the near-total ruin, the occasional tent can still be spotted among the rubble, set up by people who had returned north during the last ceasefire to find their homes destroyed, satellite images viewed by ABC News show. —Victoria Beaule, ABC News, 7 Oct. 2025

In the village outside Lviv where the family members were killed, rescue workers dug through heaps of rubble. —CNN Money, 5 Oct. 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