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: causing or tending to cause ruin
ruinously
adverb
ruinousness
noun
Examples of ruinous in a Sentence
The house has fallen into a ruinous state.
a ruinous miscalculation of the financial markets left them bankrupt
Recent Examples on the Web
Breaking so many contacts between cells may seem ruinous for a zygote floating in the womb.
—
Clare Watson, Quanta Magazine, 27 Feb. 2026
Wednesday, still Yorkshire’s most successful club with eight major trophies, have been in administration since October following the ultimately ruinous reign of Dejphon Chansiri.
—Richard Sutcliffe, New York Times, 26 Feb. 2026
Now, in a ruinous turnaround, the city has decided that, when updating community plans, adequate infrastructure doesn’t matter anymore.
—Nico Calavita, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Feb. 2026
The darker strands of the young Tennyson’s existence—madness, spurned love, ruinous genes, insolvency—would become the themes of a later poem that Holmes regards as pivotal.
—James Parker, The Atlantic, 10 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for ruinous
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Clare Watson, Quanta Magazine, 27 Feb. 2026
Wednesday, still Yorkshire’s most successful club with eight major trophies, have been in administration since October following the ultimately ruinous reign of Dejphon Chansiri.
—Richard Sutcliffe, New York Times, 26 Feb. 2026
Now, in a ruinous turnaround, the city has decided that, when updating community plans, adequate infrastructure doesn’t matter anymore.
—Nico Calavita, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Feb. 2026
The darker strands of the young Tennyson’s existence—madness, spurned love, ruinous genes, insolvency—would become the themes of a later poem that Holmes regards as pivotal.
—James Parker, The Atlantic, 10 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for ruinous
Cite this Entry
“Ruinous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ruinous. Accessed 7 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
ruinous
adjective
ru·in·ous
ˈrü-ə-nəs 
: causing or tending to cause ruin : destructive
ruinously
adverb
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