Ruin
['ruːɪn] or ['ruɪn]
Definition
(noun.) a ruined building; 'they explored several Roman ruins'.
(noun.) an event that results in destruction.
(noun.) an irrecoverable state of devastation and destruction; 'you have brought ruin on this entire family'.
(verb.) fall into ruin.
(verb.) reduce to ruins; 'The country lay ruined after the war'.
(verb.) destroy or cause to fail; 'This behavior will ruin your chances of winning the election'.
Edited by Lizzie--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The act of falling or tumbling down; fall.
(n.) Such a change of anything as destroys it, or entirely defeats its object, or unfits it for use; destruction; overthrow; as, the ruin of a ship or an army; the ruin of a constitution or a government; the ruin of health or hopes.
(n.) That which is fallen down and become worthless from injury or decay; as, his mind is a ruin; especially, in the plural, the remains of a destroyed, dilapidated, or desolate house, fortress, city, or the like.
(n.) The state of being dcayed, or of having become ruined or worthless; as, to be in ruins; to go to ruin.
(n.) That which promotes injury, decay, or destruction.
(n.) To bring to ruin; to cause to fall to pieces and decay; to make to perish; to bring to destruction; to bring to poverty or bankruptcy; to impair seriously; to damage essentially; to overthrow.
(v. i.) To fall to ruins; to go to ruin; to become decayed or dilapidated; to perish.
Inputed by Elisabeth
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Destruction, discomfiture, overthrow, defeat, wreck, shipwreck, perdition, fall, downfall, prostration, subversion, undoing.[2]. Mischief, bane, pest.
v. a. [1]. Destroy, demolish, overthrow, subvert, overturn, overwhelm.[2]. Impoverish, bring to want, reduce to poverty.
Typist: Molly
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Fall, destruction, defeat, overthrow, lapse, collapse, desolation, downfall,perdition, subversion, decay, decadence, prostration, dilapidation,disorganization
ANT:Rise, success, prosperity, salvation, rescue, recovery, stabilisation,conservation, regeneration, revivification, reparation, renascence,organization, construction
Edited by Juanita
Definition
n. a rushing or falling down violently: destruction: overthrow: that which destroys: the remains of a building demolished or decayed (usually in pl.): the state of being ruined: wreck material or moral.—v.t. to demolish: to destroy: to defeat: to impoverish: to bring to ruin: to undo: to spoil: to seduce debauch.—v.i. to run to ruin: to fall into decay: to do irreparable harm.—adj. Ru′inable (Bacon) capable of being ruined.—v.t. Ru′ināte (Shak.) to ruin to destroy: to demolish: to reduce to poverty.—v.i. (Spens.) to fall:—pr.p. ru′ināting; pa.p. ru′ināted.—adj. (obs.) falling to ruin: ruined.—ns. Ruinā′tion overthrow: subversion; Ru′iner.—adjs. Ru′iniform having the appearance of ruins; Ru′inous fallen to ruins: decayed: pernicious.—adv. Ru′inously.—n. Ru′inousness the state or quality of being ruinous: mischievousness.
Checker: Lucille
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of ruins, signifies broken engagements to lovers, distressing conditions in business, destruction to crops, and failing health. To dream of ancient ruins, foretells that you will travel extensively, but there will be a note of sadness mixed with the pleasure in the realization of a long-cherished hope. You will feel the absence of some friend.
Checker: Maryann
Unserious Contents or Definition
v. To destroy. Specifically to destroy a maid's belief in the virtue of maids.
Checker: Walter
Examples
- I happen to know that he paid seven hundred pounds to a footman for a note two lines in length, and that the ruin of a noble family was the result. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- You will ruin no more lives as you have ruined mine. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- The house had stood on a tottering base for a dozen years; and at last, in the shock of the French Revolution, it had rushed down a total ruin. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- As a selfish man will impoverish his family and often bring them to ruin, so a selfish king brings ruin on his people and often plunges them into war. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Then he was ashamed and was quiet and I went to sleep but, man, he's a ruin. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- The Athenian democracy suffered much from that narrowness of patriotism which is the ruin of all nations. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The pilgrims took what was left of the hallowed ruin, and we pressed on toward the goal of our crusade, renowned Jerusalem. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Five days' journey from here--say two hundred miles--are the ruins of an ancient city, of whose history there is neither record nor tradition. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- I can not conceive of such a thing as Genoa in ruins. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- You throw a torch into a pile of buildings, and when they are consumed you sit among the ruins, and lament the fall. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- The village of Nunnely has been alluded to--its old church, its forest, its monastic ruins. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Most of the sands which we find on the beaches and in other places are the ruins of rocks which have come apart, usually as the result of the action of water. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- The ruins of Caesar's Palace, Pompey's Pillar, Cleopatra's Needle, the Catacombs, and ruins of ancient Alexandria will be found worth the visit. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- It ruins the stomach and makes the hand shake. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- This life is ruining him. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- In short, I began the process of ruining myself in the received style, like any other spoony. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- It was ruining everything, but you might as well enjoy it. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- I will lie here, and cling here, till rain, and hail, and lightning and storm, ruining on me, make me one in substance with them below. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- This performance must have delighted him to the very bottom of his soul, for he has boasted that his task in life is to aid in ruining le prestige de la culture bourgeoise. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- I shall be ruined, Wegg! Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- You will ruin no more lives as you have ruined mine. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- The times are as tight as can be; everybody is being ruined; and I don't believe Lydgate has got a farthing. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Ruined by a fatal inheritance, and restored through me! Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- The gloomiest problem of this mysterious life was constantly before his eyes,--souls crushed and ruined, evil triumphant, and God silent. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- The man who had discovered that it could be tilled died of the labour; the man who succeeded him in possession ruined himself in fertilizing it. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- Go--leave me to my misery, boys, I am a ruined community. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
Typist: Meg