Ruination

//ˌɹuː.ɪˈneɪʃən// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The state of being ruined, a state of devastation or destruction. countable, uncountable

    "As our tour has shown, the state of ruination of castle sites was a key factor in their fate when the railways came through."

  2. 2
    destruction achieved by causing something to be wrecked or ruined wordnet
  3. 3
    The act of ruining or wrecking. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    failure that results in a loss of position or reputation wordnet
  5. 5
    The cause of being ruined, destroyed or lost. countable, uncountable
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    an event that results in destruction wordnet
  2. 7
    A loss of reputation. countable, uncountable

    "Yet also thanks largely to Trump, a parallel disaster is unfolding across the world: the ruination of America’s reputation as a safe, trustworthy, competent international leader and partner."

  3. 8
    an irrecoverable state of devastation and destruction wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
destructionruinwreckingbanebankruptcybloodbath

Example

More examples

"As our tour has shown, the state of ruination of castle sites was a key factor in their fate when the railways came through."

Etymology

From ruin + -ation.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.