1
as in disastrous
bringing about ruin or misfortune
a ruinous miscalculation of the financial markets left them bankrupt
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in devastating
causing or tending to cause destruction
a ruinous windstorm destroyed the crops
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of ruinous
So are organizations like the Institute of Peace, a nonprofit entity established by Congress that came under the crosshairs of Elon Musk’s ruinous DOGE initiative.
—
New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 24 Mar. 2025
Pitino enjoys horse races and memberships at America’s most elite clubs, but moved to Greece to coach international basketball (when no one in the U.S. would hire him after a ruinous ending at Louisville) and rode buses as Iona coach while in his late 60s.
—Brendan Quinn, The Athletic, 21 Mar. 2025
The core of the policy was a belief that the white minority regime of apartheid South Africa could be persuaded to loosen its grip on absolute power rather than fight ruinous conflicts against Black adversaries demanding majority rule.
—Alan Cowell, New York Times, 24 Feb. 2025
But in the absence of stable governance and effective regulations since the 1991 civil war, foreign fishing trawlers have deployed ruinous techniques to exploit the rich fishing environment.
—Soham Mitra, Lou Robinson and Patrick Gallagher, CNN, 22 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ruinous
New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 24 Mar. 2025
Pitino enjoys horse races and memberships at America’s most elite clubs, but moved to Greece to coach international basketball (when no one in the U.S. would hire him after a ruinous ending at Louisville) and rode buses as Iona coach while in his late 60s.
—Brendan Quinn, The Athletic, 21 Mar. 2025
The core of the policy was a belief that the white minority regime of apartheid South Africa could be persuaded to loosen its grip on absolute power rather than fight ruinous conflicts against Black adversaries demanding majority rule.
—Alan Cowell, New York Times, 24 Feb. 2025
But in the absence of stable governance and effective regulations since the 1991 civil war, foreign fishing trawlers have deployed ruinous techniques to exploit the rich fishing environment.
—Soham Mitra, Lou Robinson and Patrick Gallagher, CNN, 22 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ruinous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ruinous
Adjective
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Or, even more recently, the disastrous April 8 update to protect against the CVE-2025-21204 vulnerability that installed a mysterious folder, and got everyone’s collective conspiracy theory panties in a bunch.—
Davey Winder,
Forbes.com,
27 Apr. 2025
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Democrats have been grappling with their own version of that resolution, especially ever since the disastrous defeat of their party’s presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, in November.—
Clarence Page,
Chicago Tribune,
27 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Memories are fresh here of the devastating two quakes in southern Turkey in 2023.—
Ross Rosenfeld,
MSNBC Newsweek,
23 Apr. 2025
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Five years after a devastating pandemic, global health is falling off the public’s radar just as governments around the world are slashing foreign assistance funding.—
Jennifer Lotito,
Forbes.com,
23 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Across all suicide attempts not involving a firearm, only 4% result in death; but for firearm suicide, approximately 90% of attempts are fatal.—
Alyssa Goldberg,
USA Today,
25 Apr. 2025
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How Many Aviation Crashes Were There in 2024? NTSB data shows that throughout 2024, there were 1,199 aviation incidents and accidents, 180 of which were fatal.—
Thomas G. Moukawsher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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The indictment further alleges that, during this same period, Hamad conspired with co-defendant Collins to manufacture and possess destructive devices.—
Jasmine Baehr,
FOXNews.com,
27 Apr. 2025
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The four-part Investigation Discovery series The Fall of Diddy looks into the making and unmaking of the producer-performer-entrepreneur, revealing a history of alleged abusive and destructive behavior by Combs that dates to the late 1980s.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
26 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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In 2022, Manhattan Federal Judge Jed Rakoff, who presided over both trials, decided The Times was not liable for defamation while jurors were deliberating, that the error amounted to unfortunate editorializing but not libel.—
Molly Crane-Newman,
New York Daily News,
22 Apr. 2025
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Such a difficult call really spotlighted for the first time how tough a situation he has been left in by Eddie Howe’s unfortunate absence (due to pneumonia).—
Chris Waugh,
New York Times,
22 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ruinous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ruinous. Accessed 5 May. 2025.
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