ruining

present participle of ruin
1
as in bankrupting
to cause to lose one's fortune and become unable to pay one's debts after he was ruined by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the industrialist was forced to sell his mansion and start all over again

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2
3
as in wrecking
to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of a huge fire that ruined an entire city block

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of ruining And Hollywood really should stop ruining good shows trying to chase that approval. — Dan Zaksheske Outkick, FOXNews.com, 18 Sep. 2026 The near-miss is one of the more potent and consequential instances of a hallucinating AI ruining the reliability of a professional report. — Kyle Orland, ArsTechnica, 18 Sep. 2026 The scourge of Steve Spurrier Spurrier took too many verbal jabs to list here and took special glee in beating the Dawgs, never forgiving them for beating his Florida Gators in his 1966 senior season, ruining their SEC championship hopes. — The Athletic College Football Staff, New York Times, 16 Sep. 2026 Museum putty or wax can help keep pieces in place without ruining either the tray or your collectibles. — Mary Cornetta, Better Homes & Gardens, 11 Sep. 2026 As fishermen wrestled their catches out of flimsy fiberglass boats near a makeshift shoreside market recently, several stopped to talk with CNN, complaining that the war is ruining business. — Nic Robertson, CNN Money, 10 Sep. 2026 Social media now dominates millions of lives, ruining too many. — Orlando Sentinel, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 Sep. 2026 Global warming is ruining the way of life for these Colorado ranchers demanding accountability. — Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 6 Sep. 2026 The fun of Inside Man is letting its revelations slowly roll out, so to say more about the plot would risk ruining the experience. — Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ruining
Verb
  • Sometimes the very entities owning these hospitals and nursing homes are purposely bankrupting them, pillaging them of their value to maximize the owners’ profits.
    — Peter Ubel, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
  • At a June forum for county executive candidates, former Legislator Dan Tarwater III said that the lawsuit could cost up to $1 billion in payouts, potentially bankrupting Jackson County.
    — Ilana Arougheti July 23, Kansas City Star, 23 July 2026
Verb
  • Fox attorneys also accused executives at both Dominion and Smartmatic of destroying evidence in their respective cases, and sought sanctions.
    — Maddy Lauria, NPR, 20 Sep. 2026
  • Because both sides can persistently generate concentrated effects without concentrating forces, destroying the enemy’s ability to keep fighting becomes harder.
    — NADIA SCHADLOW, Foreign Affairs, 18 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Here’s how the shift happened, what the ingredient actually does below the neck and how to fold it into a routine without wrecking your skin barrier.
    — Hanna Wickes, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 Sep. 2026
  • The general public learned of the demolition plan only when the wrecking equipment began work nearly three months later.
    — Dan Diamond, Washington Post, 9 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • The Grand Canyon has seen ravaging floods in the past week, sparking search and rescue missions and damaging nearly 40% of its sole water pipeline.
    — Joshua Hong, Fortune, 4 Sep. 2026
  • But Vicente dismisses global heating as the main reason for the fires that are ravaging Europe.
    — Chris Marshall-Bell, New York Times, 3 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • On Thursday, the judge ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days' notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 20 Sep. 2026
  • On Thursday, the judge ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it.
    — Gary Fields, Los Angeles Times, 19 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Military force has imposed enormous costs on both Hamas and Iran, devastating their military facilities and killing their commanders.
    — NADIA SCHADLOW, Foreign Affairs, 18 Sep. 2026
  • The country is also recovering from devastating back-to-back earthquakes in June that have so far killed over 6,000 people.
    — Syra Ortiz Blanes, Miami Herald, 5 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Man searching with metal detector unearths massive Viking Age fortune, shattering records.
    — , FOXNews.com, 25 Sep. 2026
  • Last week a number of concerned mathematicians, many of them at the top of their subject, launched the Association for Human Mathematics (AHM)—an effort that was underway even before the earth-shattering Navier-Stokes news.
    — Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 14 Sep. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Ruining.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ruining. Accessed 27 Sep. 2026.

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