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
Synonyms
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 WebBen Hubbard, New York Times, 19 Apr. 2024
Over 76,000 people have been injured, and thousands more are feared buried beneath the rubble, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
—Christopher Cann, USA TODAY, 16 Apr. 2024
His stepson and two other construction workers were lying on the ground amidst boards and rubble.
—Ames Alexander, Charlotte Observer, 16 Apr. 2024
The rubble is being broken up into chunks small enough to be hauled off by dump trucks.
—Justin Jouvenal, Washington Post, 15 Apr. 2024
Ideas for integrating the PA more fully into Gaza relief operations are plentiful, including establishing Palestinian aid facilities in the West Bank, involving the PA’s security forces in aid processing and rubble clearing, and creating a direct aid-delivery route from the West Bank into Gaza.
—Shira Efron, Foreign Affairs, 15 Apr. 2024
Expand All For many contractors, cleaning up the rubble around a construction site is a matter of efficiency.
—Sarah Cutler, Idaho Statesman, 8 Apr. 2024
Only rubble remained in the Beecher vicinity, a new neighborhood populated mostly by factory workers some of whom had built their own homes.
—Jerome Hansen, Jack Schermerhorn, Ralph Nelson and Ken McCormick, Detroit Free Press, 6 Apr. 2024
Satellite imagery shows that more than 30% of Gaza's buildings − entire neighborhoods once teeming with schools, mosques, coffee shops, traffic, clothing stores, restaurants, sports fields − have been reduced to rubble.
—USA TODAY, 5 Apr. 2024
NBC News, 2 Jan. 2024
City mayor says damage is 'catastrophic' Tens of thousands of homes were reduced to rubble in the initial quake.
—Christopher Cann, USA TODAY, 2 Jan. 2024
The regime shelled the city, reducing neighborhoods to rubble.
—Anand Gopal, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024
Israel's air, sea and ground offensive has reduced much of densely populated northern Gaza to rubble.
—Wafaa Shurafa and Samy Magdy The Associated Press, arkansasonline.com, 3 Mar. 2024
Israel’s air, sea and ground offensive has reduced much of densely populated northern Gaza to rubble.
—Samy Magdy, Twin Cities, 2 Mar. 2024
A day earlier, a Russian Iskander ballistic missile turned a village café and store to rubble in Hroza, a village in eastern Ukraine, killing dozens of civilians, according to Ukrainian officials.
—Hanna Arhirova The Associated Press, Arkansas Online, 7 Oct. 2023
The war has reduced much of the enclave to rubble and caused what the U.N. has called a humanitarian catastrophe.
—Fox News, 19 Feb. 2024
Her husband bulldozed the building and reduced it to rubble forever.
—Kira Caspers, The Arizona Republic, 14 Feb. 2024
Noun
When the ground shook last year, many structures became death traps, pancaking down on their residents and killing them instantly or trapping them alive inside the rubble.
—Ben Hubbard, New York Times, 19 Apr. 2024
Over 76,000 people have been injured, and thousands more are feared buried beneath the rubble, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
—Christopher Cann, USA TODAY, 16 Apr. 2024
His stepson and two other construction workers were lying on the ground amidst boards and rubble.
—Ames Alexander, Charlotte Observer, 16 Apr. 2024
The rubble is being broken up into chunks small enough to be hauled off by dump trucks.
—Justin Jouvenal, Washington Post, 15 Apr. 2024
Ideas for integrating the PA more fully into Gaza relief operations are plentiful, including establishing Palestinian aid facilities in the West Bank, involving the PA’s security forces in aid processing and rubble clearing, and creating a direct aid-delivery route from the West Bank into Gaza.
—Shira Efron, Foreign Affairs, 15 Apr. 2024
Expand All For many contractors, cleaning up the rubble around a construction site is a matter of efficiency.
—Sarah Cutler, Idaho Statesman, 8 Apr. 2024
Only rubble remained in the Beecher vicinity, a new neighborhood populated mostly by factory workers some of whom had built their own homes.
—Jerome Hansen, Jack Schermerhorn, Ralph Nelson and Ken McCormick, Detroit Free Press, 6 Apr. 2024
Satellite imagery shows that more than 30% of Gaza's buildings − entire neighborhoods once teeming with schools, mosques, coffee shops, traffic, clothing stores, restaurants, sports fields − have been reduced to rubble.
—USA TODAY, 5 Apr. 2024
Verb
Nearly all Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes under a bombardment that has reduced much of the territory to rubble.
—NBC News, 2 Jan. 2024
City mayor says damage is 'catastrophic' Tens of thousands of homes were reduced to rubble in the initial quake.
—Christopher Cann, USA TODAY, 2 Jan. 2024
The regime shelled the city, reducing neighborhoods to rubble.
—Anand Gopal, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024
Israel's air, sea and ground offensive has reduced much of densely populated northern Gaza to rubble.
—Wafaa Shurafa and Samy Magdy The Associated Press, arkansasonline.com, 3 Mar. 2024
Israel’s air, sea and ground offensive has reduced much of densely populated northern Gaza to rubble.
—Samy Magdy, Twin Cities, 2 Mar. 2024
A day earlier, a Russian Iskander ballistic missile turned a village café and store to rubble in Hroza, a village in eastern Ukraine, killing dozens of civilians, according to Ukrainian officials.
—Hanna Arhirova The Associated Press, Arkansas Online, 7 Oct. 2023
The war has reduced much of the enclave to rubble and caused what the U.N. has called a humanitarian catastrophe.
—Fox News, 19 Feb. 2024
Her husband bulldozed the building and reduced it to rubble forever.
—Kira Caspers, The Arizona Republic, 14 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rubble.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near rubble
Cite this Entry
“Rubble.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rubble. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.
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