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| ru·in [ r in ] |
noun (plural ru·ins) |
|
| Definition: |
| |
1. broken remains: the physical remains of something such as a building or city that has decayed or been destroyed
(
often used in the plural
)
|
2. complete devastation: a state of complete destruction, decay, collapse, or loss
(
often plural
)
  The buildings had gone to ruin.
|
3. complete failure: complete moral, social, or economic failure
facing financial ruin
|
4. somebody or something destroyed: somebody or something completely lost or destroyed
|
5. cause of destruction: a cause of complete loss or destruction
Alcohol was their ruin.
|
6. loss of virginity: a woman's loss of virginity to a man other than her husband
(
archaic
)
|
plural noun ru·ins |
|
| Definition: |
| |
complete devastation: a state of complete destruction, decay, collapse, or loss
Her dreams lay in ruins.
|
verb (past and past participle ru·ined, present participle ru·in·ing, 3rd person present singular ru·ins) |
|
| Definition: |
| |
1. transitive verb destroy something: to cause something to be destroyed or lost
|
2. transitive verb destroy somebody financially: to bring about somebody's financial demise
|
3. transitive verb damage something beyond repair: to spoil something so severely that it cannot be restored
|
4. intransitive verb decline: to fall into a state of complete destruction or loss
(
literary
)
|
5. transitive verb seduce then abandon woman: to induce a woman to engage in sex before marriage, then abandon her
(
archaic
)
|
| [14th century. Via French< Latin ruina< ruere "to fall"] |
|
| ru·ined adjective |
| ru·in·er noun |
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