ruin

From Middle English ruyne, ruine, from Old French ruine, from Latin ruīna (“overthrow, ruin”), from ruō (“I fall down, tumble, sink in ruin, rush”).

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹuː.ɪn/,

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːɪn

ruin (countable and uncountable, plural ruins)

1. (countable, sometimes in the plural) The remains of a destroyed or dilapidated construction, such as a house or castle.
   • 1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:

     The Veian and the Gabian towirs shall fall, / And one promiscuous ruin cover all; / Nor, after length of years, a stone betray / The place where once the very ruins lay.

   • a. 1812, Joseph Stevens Buckminster, sermon:

     The labour of a day will not build up a virtuous habit on the ruins of an old and vicious character.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Eden Prime:

     Dr. Manuel: No one is saved. The age of humanity is ended. Soon, only ruin and corpses will remain.

2. (uncountable) The state of being a ruin, destroyed or decayed.

   The monastery has fallen into ruin.

3. (uncountable) Something that leads to serious trouble or destruction.

   Gambling has been the ruin of many.

   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Youth and Age”, in The Essayes , 3rd edition, London: Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     The errors of young men are the ruin of business.

   • 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 01:

     The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He […] played a lone hand, […]. Most lone wolves had a moll at any rate—women were their ruin—but if the Bat had a moll, not even the grapevine telegraph could locate her.

4. The act of ruining something.
5. (obsolete) A fall or tumble.
   • , Homer, “(please specify |book=I to XXIV)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. , London: Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, , new edition, volume (please specify the book number), London: Charles Knight and Co., , 1843, →OCLC:

     His ruin startled th’ other steeds.

     The spelling has been modernized.

6. A change that destroys or defeats something; destruction; overthrow.

   the ruin of a ship or an army

   the ruin of a constitution or a government

   the ruin of health or hopes

   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. , London: J Tonson, , published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2:

     Oh Portius, is there not some choſen Curſe,
     Some hidden Thunder in the Stores of Heav’n,
     Red with uncommon Wrath, to blaſt the Man
     Who owes his Greatneſs to his Country’s Ruin?

   • 1768, Thomas Gray, The Bard:

     Ruin seize thee, ruthless king!

7. (uncountable) Complete financial loss; bankruptcy.

ruin (third-person singular simple present ruins, present participle ruining, simple past and past participle ruined or (dialectal, nonstandard) ruint)

1. (transitive) To cause the fiscal ruin of; to bankrupt or drive out of business.

   With all these purchases, you surely mean to ruin us!

   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

     In one way, indeed, he bade fair to ruin us; for he kept on staying week after week, and at last month after month, so that all the money had been long exhausted...

2. To destroy or make something no longer usable.

   He ruined his new white slacks by accidentally spilling oil on them.

   • 1857, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Golden Mile-Stone:

     By the fireside there are old men seated, / Seeing ruined cities in the ashes.

3. To upset or overturn the plans or progress of, or to have a disastrous effect on something.

   My car breaking down just as I was on the road ruined my vacation.

4. To make something less enjoyable or likeable.

   I used to love that song, but being assaulted when that song was playing ruined the song for me.

5. To reveal the ending of (a story); to spoil.
6. (obsolete) To fall into a state of decay.
   • 1636, George Sandys, Paraphrase upon the Psalmes and upon the Hymnes dispersed throughout the Old and New Testaments:

     Though he his house of polisht marble build, / Yet shall it ruine like the Moth's fraile cell

7. (transitive, historical) To seduce or debauch, and thus harm the social standing of.

   The young libertine was notorious for ruining local girls.

• destroy
• fordo
• ruinate
• wreck
• See also Thesaurus:spoil

• build
• construct
• found
• produce
• unruin

• ruination
• ruinable
• ruiner
• ruinous
• ruint

• “ruin”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ruin”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “ruin”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• Irun

• IPA^(key): /ˈrwin/,

ruin m sg (feminine singular ruina, neuter singular ruino, masculine plural ruinos, feminine plural ruines)

1. weedy

From Middle Dutch rûun. Cognate with Middle Low German rûne, Middle High German rūn. Further origin unknown; possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(H)rewH- (“to dig out, rip off”).

• IPA^(key): /rœy̯n/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ruin
• Rhymes: -œy̯n

ruin m (plural ruinen, diminutive ruintje n)

1. gelding (castrated male horse)

• vosruin

• hengst

From Latin ruina.

ruin m (definite singular ruinen, indefinite plural ruiner, definite plural ruinene)

1. ruin (often in plural form when referring to buildings)

• “ruin” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Latin ruina.

ruin m (definite singular ruinen, indefinite plural ruinar, definite plural ruinane)

1. ruin (often in plural form when referring to buildings)

• “ruin” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From an earlier *ruino, from ruina, or from a Vulgar Latin root *ruīnus, ultimately from Latin ruīna. Compare Portuguese ruim, Catalan roí. The lack of a final /-o/ may suggest a borrowing.

• IPA^(key): /ˈrwin/
• Rhymes: -in
• Syllabification: ruin

ruin m or f (masculine and feminine plural ruines)

1. contemptible, mean, heartless

   Synonyms: vil, despreciable

2. mean, stingy

   Synonyms: avaro, mezquino, tacaño, usurero, agarrado, cicatero

3. wild; unruly

   Synonyms: salvaje, agresto

4. rachitic

   Synonym: raquítico

   • 1881, Eduardo Acevedo Díaz, Ismael‎, section 46:

     un pequeño grupo de ovejas ruines e inútiles para la marcha

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• “ruin”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

ruin c

1. a ruin (remains of a building)
2. ruin (financial bankruptcy)

• ruinera

• ruin in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• ruin in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• ruin in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• ruin in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

• urin

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *duRi (“thorn, splinter, fish bone”), akin to Agutaynen doli and Malay duri (“thorn”).

ruin

1. bone