in ruins

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English

Prepositional phrase

in ruins

  1. (literally) Of a building or structure, mostly destroyed.
    • 1953 June, C. E. N. Watts, “Railway Through Lapland”, in Railway Magazine, page 384:
      The line ends at Narvik. Eight years ago the whole town was in ruins, but the industry of the Norwegian people has rebuilt it entirely.
  2. (figuratively) Of a person, attribute, relationship, etc., totally damaged or spoiled.
    After being found guilty of animal abuse, her reputation was in ruins.
    His finances were in ruins after spending all his inheritance on cars and drugs.