ruination

C2+ Topic:Law & Government

US /ˌruəˈneɪʃən/ UK /ˌruːɪˈneɪʃən/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
the action of ruining or the state of being ruined

Gambling debts led to the ruination of the once-proud family.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the action of ruining or... destruction downfall collapse devastation wreck undoing

Opposites

restoration construction preservation

Word family

Related forms ruin ruiner ruinous

Etymology

From ruin + -ation, from Old French ruine, from Latin ruina ('a collapse, downfall'), from ruere ('to fall, rush down').

ruina Latin ruere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Law & Government Word Formation & Derivatives

# ruination

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˌruəˈneɪʃən
**IPA (UK):** ˌruːɪˈneɪʃən

## Meanings
1. the action of ruining or the state of being ruined

## Examples
- Gambling debts led to the ruination of the once-proud family.

## Synonyms
- destruction
- downfall
- collapse
- devastation
- wreck
- undoing

## Antonyms
- restoration
- construction
- preservation

## Related Forms
- ruin
- ruiner
- ruinous

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: ruina
- Root: ruere

## Etymology
From ruin + -ation, from Old French ruine, from Latin ruina ('a collapse, downfall'), from ruere ('to fall, rush down').

## AI Etymology
Ruination comes from ruin + -ation, from Old French ruine, from Latin ruina ('a collapse, downfall'), from ruere ('to fall, rush down'). The historical chain includes Latin ruina and Latin ruere. The quoted older senses, "a collapse, downfall" and "to fall, rush down", supply the semantic anchors for ruination. The formation is best read as suffixal and borrowed: the word ruination carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "the action of ruining or the state of being ruined". Related English forms include ruin, ruiner, and ruinous. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Law & Government
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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ruination

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