FluentPlex

ruin

/ˈɹuː.ɪn/ verb A2
  1. To cause the fiscal ruin of; to bankrupt or drive out of business. (transitive) · With all these purchases, you surely mean to ruin us!
  2. To destroy or render something no longer usable or operable. · He ruined his new white slacks by accidentally spilling oil on them.
  3. To destroy (e.g. a city) so as to leave ruins.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. To make (someone) have a ruined orgasm.
  7. To reveal the ending of (a story); to spoil.
  8. To seduce or debauch, and thus harm the social standing of. (transitive) · The young libertine was notorious for ruining local girls.

He/she/it ruins · Past ruined · Past participle ruined · -ing form ruining

+ Save to review

Verb forms

Base form
ruin
He/she/it
ruins
Past
ruined
Past participle
ruined
-ing form
ruining

From the library

He has been my ruin and my downfall.”
Sherlock Holmes: The Bruce-Partington Plans, p. 39 · B2
In the last century, however, four successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the days of the Regency.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, p. 39 · B2
It was to save myself from ruin.
Sherlock Holmes: The Bruce-Partington Plans, p. 37 · B2
“Alas, alas,” murmured he, “if the procureur himself had been at Marseilles I should have been ruined.
The Count of Monte Cristo, p. 69 · C1

Other matches

Learn ruin in real texts

With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.

Create free account
Words, meanings, pronunciations and translations from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); how common each word is from wordfreq. Made into this dictionary by FluentPlex.