SG Heritage Dictionary

Ruin [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. Destruction; fall; overthrow; defeat; that change of any thing which destroys it, or entirely defeats its object, or unfits it for use; as the ruin of a house; the ruin of a ship or an army; the ruin of a constitution of government; the ruin of health; the ruin of commerce; the ruin of public or private happiness; the ruin of a project.

2. Mischief; bane; that which destroys.

3. The errors of young men are the ruin of business.

4. ruin more generally ruins, the remains of a decayed or demolished city, house, fortress, or any work of art or other thing; as the ruins of Balbec, Palmyra or Persepolis; the ruins of a wall; a castle in ruins.

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

6. The decayed or enfeebled remains of a natural object; as, the venerable old man presents a great mind in ruins.

7. The cause of destruction.

8. They were the ruin of him and of all Israel. 2 Chronicles 28:23 .

9. RU'IN , v, t,

10. To demolish; to pull down, burn, or otherwise destroy; as, to ruin a city or an edifice.

11. To subvert; to destroy; as, to ruin a state or government.

12. To destroy; to bring to an end; as, to ruin commerce or manufactures.

13. To destroy in any manner; as, to ruin health or happiness; to ruin reputation.

14. To counteract; to defeat; as, to ruin a plan or project.

15. To deprive of felicity or fortune.

16. By thee rais'd I ruin all my foes.

17. Grace with a nod, and ruin with a frown.

18. To impoverish; as, to be ruined by speculation.

19. The eyes of other people are the eyes that ruin us.

20. To bring to everlasting misery; as, to ruin the soul.

Ruin [Verb intransitive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. To fall into ruins.

2. To run to ruin; to fall into decay or be dilapidated.

3. Though he his house of polish'd marble build, yet shall it ruin like the moth's frail cell.

4. To be reduced; to be brought to poverty or misery.

5. If we are idle, and disturb the industrious in their business, we shall ruin the faster.

6. [Note. This intransitive use of the verb is now unusual.]

Ruin [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. The act of falling or tumbling down; fall.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. The state of being dcayed, or of having become ruined or worthless; as, to be in ruins; to go to ruin.

5. That which promotes injury, decay, or destruction.

6. 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.

Ruin [Verb intransitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

To fall to ruins; to go to ruin; to become decayed or dilapidated; to perish.

Ruinable [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Capable of being ruined.

Ruinate [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

To demolish; to subvert; to destroy; to reduce to poverty. [This word is ill formed and happily is become obsolete.]

Ruinate [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Involved in ruin; ruined.

Ruinate [Verb intransitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

To fall; to tumble.

Ruinate [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. To demolish; to subvert; to destroy; to reduce to poverty; to ruin.

2. To cause to fall; to cast down.

Ruination [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

Subversion; overthrow; demolition. [Inelegant and obsolete.]

Ruination [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

The act of ruining, or the state of being ruined.

Ruined [Participle passive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

Demolished; destroyed; subverted; reduced to poverty; undone.

Ruined [Imperfect tense and past participle] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Ruin

Ruiner [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

One that ruins or destroys.

Ruiner [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

One who, or that which, ruins.

Ruing [Present participle and verbal noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Rue

Ruiniform [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1828

Having the appearance of ruins, or the ruins of houses. Certain minerals are said to be ruiniform

Ruiniform [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Having the appearance of ruins, or of the ruins of houses; -- said of certain minerals.

Ruining [Participle present tense] Webster's Dictionary 1828

Demolishing; subverting; destroying; reducing to poverty; bringing to endless misery.

Ruining [Present participle and verbal noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Ruin

Ruinous [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. Fallen to ruin; entirely decayed; demolished; dilapidated; as an edifice, bridge or wall in a ruinous state.

2. Destructive; baneful; pernicious; bringing or tending to bring certain ruin. Who can describe the ruinous practice of intemperance?

3. Composed of ruins; consisting in ruins; as a ruinous heap. Isaiah 17:1 .

Ruinous [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. Causing, or tending to cause, ruin; destructive; baneful; pernicious; as, a ruinous project.

2. Characterized by ruin; ruined; dilapidated; as, an edifice, bridge, or wall in a ruinous state.

3. Composed of, or consisting in, ruins.

Ruinously [Adverb] Webster's Dictionary 1828

In a ruinous manner; destructively.

Ruinousness [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

A ruinous state or quality.

Destruction Roget’s Thesaurus §162

N. {ant. 161} destruction, waste, dissolution, breaking up, diruption, disruption, consumption, disorganization, fall, downfall, devastation, ruin, perdition, crash, eboulement, smash, havoc, delabrement, debacle, break down, break up, fall apart, prostration, desolation, bouleversement, wreck, wrack, shipwreck, cataclysm, washout, extinction, annihilation, destruction of life, knock-down blow, doom, crack of doom, destroying, demolition, demolishment, overthrow, subversion, suppression, abolition, biblioclasm, sacrifice, ravage, razzia, inactivation, incendiarism, revolution, extirpation, beginning of the end, commencement de la fin, road to ruin, dilapidation, sabotage

V. be destroyed &c, perish, fall to the ground, tumble, topple, go to pieces, fall to pieces, break up, crumble to dust, go to the dogs, go to the wall, go to smash, go to shivers, go to wreck, go to pot, go to wrack and ruin, go by the board, go all to smash, be all over, be all up, be all with, totter to its fall, destroy, do away with, make away with, nullify, annual, sacrifice, demolish, tear up, overturn, overthrow, overwhelm, upset, subvert, put an end to, seal the doom of, do in, do for, dish*, undo, break up, cut up, break down, cut down, pull down, mow down, blow down, beat down, suppress, quash, put down, do a job on, cut short, take off, blot out, dispel, dissipate, dissolve, consume, smash, crash, quell, squash, squelch, crumple up, shatter, shiver, batter to pieces, tear to pieces, crush to pieces, cut to pieces, shake to pieces, pull to pieces, pick to pieces, laniate, nip, tear to rags, tear to tatters, crush to atoms, knock to atoms, ruin, strike out, throw over, knock down over, fell, sink, swamp, scuttle, wreck, shipwreck, engulf, ingulf, submerge, lay in ashes, lay in ruins, sweep away, erase, wipe out, expunge, raze, level with the dust, level with the ground, waste, atomize, vaporize, deal destruction, desolate, devastate, lay waste, ravage gut, disorganize, dismantle, devour, swallow up, sap, mine, blast, bomb, blow to smithereens, drop the big one, confound, exterminate, extinguish, quench, annihilate, snuff out, put out, stamp out, trample out, lay in the dust, trample in the dust, prostrate, tread under foot, crush under foot, trample under foot, lay the ax to the root of, make short work of, make clean sweep of, make mincemeat of, cut up root and branch, chop into pieces, cut into ribbons, fling to the winds, scatter to the winds, throw overboard, strike at the root of, sap the foundations of, spring a mine, blow up, ravage with fire and sword, cast to the dogs, eradicate

Adj. destroyed, perishing, trembling to its fall, nodding to its fall, tottering to its fall, in course of destruction, extinct, all-destroying, all-devouring, all-engulfing, destructive, subversive, ruinous, devastating, incendiary, deletory|, destroying, suicidal, deadly

Adv. with crushing effect, with a sledge hammer

Phr. delenda est carthago, dum roma deliberat saguntum perit, ecrasez l'infame

Evil Roget’s Thesaurus §619

N. evil, ill, harm, hurt, mischief, nuisance, # machinations of the devil, pandora's box, ills that flesh is heir to, blow, buffet, stroke, scratch, bruise, wound, gash, mutilation, mortal blow, wound, immedicabile vulnus, damage, loss, disadvantage, prejudice, drawback, disaster, accident, casualty, mishap, bad job, devil to pay, calamity, bale, catastrophe, tragedy, ruin, adversity, mental suffering, * demon &v, 980, bane, badness, painfulness, evil doer, outrage, wrong, injury, foul play, bad turn, ill turn, disservice, spoliation, grievance, crying evil

V. be in trouble

Adj. disastrous, bad, awry, out of joint, disadvantageous

Adv. amis, wrong, ill, to one's cost

Phr. "moving accidents by flood and field", section ii, prospective volition 1, conceptional volition

Failure Roget’s Thesaurus §732

N. failure, nonsuccess, nonfulfillment, dead failure, successlessness, abortion, miscarriage, brutum fulmen, labor in vain, no go, inefficacy, inefficaciousness, vain attempt, ineffectual attempt, abortive attempt, abortive efforts, flash in the pan, "lame and impotent conclusion", frustration, slip 'twixt cup and lip, blunder, fault, omission, miss, oversight, slip, trip, stumble, claudication|, footfall, false step, wrong step, faux pas, titubation, bvue, faute, lurch, botchery, scrape, mess, fiasco, breakdown, flunk, mishap, split, collapse, smash, blow, explosion, repulse, rebuff, defeat, rout, overthrow, discomfiture, beating, drubbing, quietus, nonsuit, subjugation, checkmate, stalemate, fool's mate, fall, downfall, ruin, perdition, wreck, deathblow, bankruptcy, losing game, affaire flambe, victim, bankrupt, flunker, flunky

V. fail, be unsuccessful, not succeed, make vain efforts, do in vain, labor in vain, toil in vain, flunk, lose one's labor, take nothing by one's motion, bring to naught, make nothing of, wash a blackamoor white, roll the stones of sisyphus, do by halves, lose ground, fall short of, miss, miss one's aim, miss the mark, miss one's footing, miss stays, slip, trip, stumble, make a slip &c, n, blunder, make a mess of, make a botch of, bitch it|, miscarry, abort, go up like a rocket and come down like the stick, come down in flames, get shot down, reckon without one's host, get the wrong pig by the tail, get the wrong sow by the ear, limp, halt, hobble, titubate, fall, tumble, lose one's balance, fall to the ground, fall between two stools, flounder, falter, stick in the mud, run aground, split upon a rock, beat one's head against a stone wall, run one's head against a stone wall, knock one's head against a stone wall, dash one's head against a stone wall, break one's back, break down, sink, drown, founder, have the ground cut from under one, get into trouble, get into a mess, get into a scrape, come to grief, go to the wall, go to the dogs, go to pot, lick the dust, bite the dust, be defeated, have the worst of it, lose the day, come off second best, lose, fall a prey to, succumb, not have a leg to stand on, come to nothing, end in smoke, flat out |, fall to the ground, fall through, fall dead, fall stillborn, fall flat, slip through one's fingers, hang fire, miss fire, flash in the pan, collapse, topple down, go to wrack and ruin, go amiss, go wrong, go cross, go hard with, go on a wrong tack, go on ill, come off ill, turn out ill, work ill, take a wrong term, take an ugly term, take an ugly turn, take a turn for the worse, be all over with, be all up with, explode, dash one's hopes, defeat the purpose, sow the wind and reap the whirlwind, jump out of the frying pan into the fire, go from the frying pan into the fire

Adj. unsuccessful, successless, failing, tripping, at fault, unfortunate, abortive, addle, stillborn, fruitless, bootless, ineffectual, ineffective, inconsequential, trifling, nugatory, inefficient, insufficient, unavailing, of no effect, aground, grounded, swamped, stranded, cast away, wrecked, foundered, capsized, shipwrecked, nonsuited, foiled, defeated, struck down, borne down, broken down, downtrodden, overborne, overwhelmed, all up with, ploughed, plowed, plucked, lost, undone, ruined, broken, bankrupt, played out, done up, done for, dead beat, ruined root and branch, flambe, knocked on the head, destroyed, frustrated, crossed, unhinged, disconcerted dashed, thrown off one's balance, thrown on one's back, thrown on one's beam ends|, unhorsed, in a sorry plight, hard hit, stultified, befooled, dished, hoist on one's own petard, victimized, sacrificed, wide of the mark, out of one's reckoning, left in the lurch, thrown away, unattained, uncompleted

Adv. unsuccessfully, to little or no purpose, in vain, re infecta

Phr. the bubble has burst, "the jig is up", "the game is up", all is lost, the devil to pay, parturiunt montes, dies infaustus, tout est perdu hors l'honneur

Adversity Roget’s Thesaurus §735

N. adversity, evil, failure, bad luck, ill luck, evil luck, adverse luck, hard fortune, hard hap, hard luck, hard lot, frowns of fortune, evil dispensation, evil star, evil genius|, vicissitudes of life, ups and downs of life, broken fortunes, hard case, hard lines, hard life, sea of troubles, peck of troubles, hell upon earth, slough of despond, trouble, hardship, curse, blight, blast, load, pressure, pressure of the times, iron age, evil day, time out of joint, hard times, bad times, sad times, rainy day, cloud, dark cloud, gathering clouds, ill wind, visitation, infliction, affliction, bitter pill, care, trial, the sport of fortune, mishap, mischance, misadventure, misfortune, disaster, calamity, catastrophe, accident, casualty, cross, reverse, check, contretemps, rub, backset, comedown, setback, losing game, falling, fall, downfall, ruination, ruinousness, undoing, extremity, ruin

V. be ill off, go hard with, fall on evil, fall on evil days, go on ill, not prosper, go downhill, go to rack and ruin, go to the dogs, fall, fall from one's high estate, decay, sink, decline, go down in the world, have seen better days, bring down one's gray hairs with sorrow to the grave, come to grief, be all over, be up with, bring a wasp's nest about one's ears, bring a hornet's nest about one's ears

Adj. unfortunate, unblest, unhappy, unlucky, improsperous, unprosperous, hoodooed, luckless, hapless, out of luck, in trouble, in a bad way, in an evil plight, under a cloud, clouded, ill off, badly off, in adverse circumstances, poor, behindhand, down in the world, decayed, undone, on the road to ruin, on its last legs, on the wane, in one's utmost need, planet-struck, devoted, born under an evil star, born with a wooden ladle in one's mouth, ill-fated, ill-starred, ill-omened, adverse, untoward, disastrous, calamitous, ruinous, dire, deplorable

Poverty Roget’s Thesaurus §804

N. poverty, indigence, penury, pauperism, destitution, want, need, neediness, lack, necessity, privation, distress, difficulties, wolf at the door, bad circumstances, poor circumstances, need circumstances, embarrassed circumstances, reduced circumstances, straightened circumstances, slender means, narrow means, straits, hand to mouth existence, res angusta domi, low water, impecuniosity, beggary, mendicancy, mendicity, broken fortune, loss of fortune, insolvency, empty pocket, empty purse, light purse, beggarly account of empty boxes, poor man, pauper, mendicant, mumper, beggar, starveling, pauvre diable, fakir|, schnorrer|, homeless person

V. be poor, want, lack, starve, live from hand to mouth, have seen better days, go down in the world, come upon the parish, go to the dogs, go to wrack and ruin, not have a penny, not have a shot in one's locker, beg one's bread, tirer le diable par la queue, run into debt, render poor, impoverish, reduce, reduce to poverty, pauperize, fleece, ruin, bring to the parish

Adj. poor, indigent, poverty-stricken, badly off, poorly off, ill off, poor as a rat, poor as a church mouse, poor as a job, fortuneless, dowerless, moneyless, penniless, unportioned, unmoneyed, impecunious, out of money, out of cash, short of money, short of cash, without a rap, not worth a rap, qui n'a pas le sou, out of pocket, hard up, out at elbows, out at heels, seedy, bare-footed, beggarly, beggared, destitute, fleeced, stripped, bereft, bereaved, reduced, homeless, in want, needy, necessitous, distressed, pinched, straitened, put to one's shifts, put to one's last shifts, unable to keep the wolf from the door, unable to make both ends meet, embarrassed, under hatches, involved, insolvent

Adv. in forma pauperis

Phr. zonam perdidit, "a penniless lass wi' a lang pedigree", a pobreza no hay verguenza, "he that is down can fall no lower", poca roba poco pensiero, "steeped . . . in poverty to the very lips", "the short and simple annals of the poor"

King James Bible KJV Bible

Berean Standard Bible BSB Bible

27 KJV and 113 BSB verses contain “Ruin” — showing the first 20. Show all 132 verses (searchable)

Exodus 8:24

And the LORD did so; and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies.

And the LORD did so. Thick swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials. Throughout Egypt the land was ruined by swarms of flies.

Exodus 10:7

And Pharaoh’s servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?

Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the LORD their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is in ruins?”

Deuteronomy 13:16

And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again.

And you are to gather all its plunder in the middle of the public square, and completely burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. The city must remain a mound of ruins forever, never to be rebuilt.

Joshua 8:28

And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day.

So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.

2 Samuel 16:8

The LORD hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the LORD hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and, behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man.

The LORD has paid you back for all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the LORD has delivered the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, you have come to ruin because you are a man of bloodshed!”

2 Kings 3:19

And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.

And you shall attack every fortified city and every city of importance. You shall cut down every good tree, stop up every spring, and ruin every good field with stones.”

2 Kings 19:25

Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.

Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it; in days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble.

2 Chronicles 28:23

For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.

Since Damascus had defeated him, he sacrificed to their gods and said, “Because the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But these gods were the downfall of Ahaz and of all Israel.

2 Chronicles 34:6

And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.

Josiah did the same in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins around them.

Ezra 9:9

For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

Though we are slaves, our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but He has extended to us grace in the sight of the kings of Persia, giving us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and giving us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 2:3

And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?

and replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

Nehemiah 2:17

Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.

Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned down. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.”

Job 2:3

And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.

Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.”

Job 3:14

With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;

with kings and counselors of the earth, who built for themselves cities now in ruins,

Job 15:28

And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.

he will dwell in ruined cities, in abandoned houses destined to become rubble.

Job 30:14

They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.

They advance as through a wide breach; through the ruins they keep rolling in.

Job 30:24

Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

Yet no one stretches out his hand to a ruined man when he cries for help in his distress.

Job 31:29

If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:

If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him—

Psalms 9:6

O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.

The enemy has come to eternal ruin, and You have uprooted their cities; the very memory of them has vanished.

Psalms 35:8

Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.

May ruin befall them by surprise; may the net they hid ensnare them; may they fall into the hazard they created.