MEANING
1. To damage something so badly that its usefulness, condition, or prospects are lost.
2. Severe destruction or the remains left by it, especially of a building.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- ruin a building
- ruin a reputation
On the page
The flood ruined the ground-floor rooms.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- ruin
- Past tense
- ruined
- Past participle
- ruined
- Present participle
- ruining
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- ruin
- Present continuous
- am/is/are ruining
- Present perfect
- have/has ruined
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been ruining
- Past
- ruined
- Past continuous
- was/were ruining
- Past perfect
- had ruined
- Past perfect continuous
- had been ruining
- Future
- will ruin
- Future continuous
- will be ruining
- Future perfect
- will have ruined
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been ruining
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Primary category: horror / gothic. Forms: ruin; ruins; ruined; ruined; ruining. Noun singular ruin; plural ruins. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: ruins.
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