ruin

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verb

ru·in ˈrü-ən

-ˌin;

ˈrün

ruined ˈrü-ənd

-ˌind;

ˈründ,

dialectal

ˈrü-ənt

-ˌint;

ˈrünt

; ruining; ruins

Synonyms of ruin next

transitive verb

: to damage irreparably

: bankrupt, impoverish

ruined by stock speculation

: to subject to frustration, failure, or disaster

will ruin your chances of promotion

: to reduce to ruins : devastate

intransitive verb

: to become ruined

ruiner noun

ruin

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noun

: the state of being ruined

—archaic except in plural

the city lay in ruins

: the remains of something destroyed

—usually used in plural

the ruins of an ancient templethe ruins of his life

: a ruined building, person, or object

: the action of destroying, laying waste, or wrecking

: damage, injury

: physical, moral, economic, or social collapse

archaic : a falling down : collapse

from age to age … the crash of ruin fitfully resounds—

William Wordsworth

: a cause of destruction

Example Sentences

Verb The bad weather ruined the party. I ruined the sauce by adding too much garlic. His low test scores ruined his chances of getting into a good school. Poor customer service ruined the company's reputation. He was ruined by debt. The scandal ruined the mayor. Noun The incident led to the ruin of their relationship. The abandoned town had gone to ruin. Don't let the house your grandfather built fall into ruin. The castle is now a ruin. The drought brought economic ruin to local farmers. Her drug addiction brought her to the brink of ruin. See More

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Selfishly, for those of us who write about TV, that ruined any chance of getting a chance to take a breath and see the sunlight in the middle of simultaneously reporting on Emmy season, the upfronts and the WGA strike. —

Michael Schneider, Variety, 1 June 2023 The game is excellent without any of them, but if future updates and content revolve around feelings of FOMO and predatory microtransactions, it’ll be ruined. —

Brittany Vincent, Rolling Stone, 31 May 2023 One degree off on a burner or a single second without a stir can ruin an entire batch of 60 kilograms of milk, wasting a day’s work. —

Taylor Luck, The Christian Science Monitor, 30 May 2023 Below, find a list of finales that will ruin your plans to have a productive Memorial Day Week, day by day. —

Vulture, 26 May 2023 The bed's waterproof cover ensures that moisture, dirt, or any other messes won't ruin your pet's relaxing time. —

Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 24 May 2023 Delyne Hicks still recalls a story from years back when the mother of a pregnant teenage girl came into the James Rushton Early Learning Center in Woodlawn, where Hicks is the executive director, and told her that her daughter had ruined her life. —

Savannah Tryens-fernandes | Stryens-fernandes@al.com, al, 12 May 2023 Tips for Buying Men’s Dress Shoes Prioritize comfort and support Nothing will ruin a wedding or a day at the office faster than a pair of shoes that don’t fit properly or aren’t comfortable. —

Todd Plummer, Travel + Leisure, 28 Apr. 2023 Earlier this month, Barry Morphew filed a $15 million federal civil rights civil lawsuit against prosecutors, the sheriff and several investigators, claiming that his life has been ruined by false accusations. —

Erielle Reshef, ABC News, 15 May 2023

Noun

In the ruins of a media landscape that produced so many great, paradigm-shifting works of television narrative, the insistence on Succession’s own capital-G Greatness is an insistence that this era is not, in fact, over. —

Phillip Maciak, The New Republic, 26 May 2023 Twenty-three years later, Aldous Huxley, one of the era’s greatest novelists, left his apartment in Santa Monica in the wake of Pearl Harbor and moved to a 40-acre ranch across the road from the colony’s ruins. —

André Naffis-sahely, Los Angeles Times, 11 May 2023 Following Dubai and Qatar Saudi Arabia is focusing on expanding its tourism sector, appealing to archaeology fans at the likes of AlUla, where ruins have been left untouched for almost 2,000 years, and creating entire new cities to appeal to visitors. —

Julia Buckley, CNN, 4 May 2023 Critics of the proposal say that if that new standard were established, the press could face a blizzard of lawsuits that would lead to financial ruin even if the suits failed. —

The Week Staff, The Week, 26 Mar. 2023 The dancers performed, memorably, against simple café tables, but also in a field of eight thousand (fake) pink carnations; or in the pouring rain (requiring thousands of gallons of water); or, in 1989, amid the ruins of a high wall that had cracked and fallen. —

Jennifer Homans, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2023 Pham and her sister Kim, a co-founder, were among many small-business owners particularly at risk of financial ruin when Silicon Valley Bank faltered and then was seized by federal regulators over the weekend. —

Jaclyn Peiser, Washington Post, 14 Mar. 2023 Allow at least four to five hours to walk around the ruins. —

Elizabeth Heath, Travel + Leisure, 4 Mar. 2023 Although there’s no plaque in sight, the ruins are supposedly registered as California Historical Landmark No. 933. —

Laura Blasey, Los Angeles Times, 17 May 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ruin.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.