ruinous
Americanadjective
-
bringing or tending to bring ruin; destructive; disastrous.
a ruinous war.
- Synonyms:
- catastrophic, devastating, calamitous
-
fallen into ruin; dilapidated.
a ruinous house.
-
consisting of ruins.
a ruinous city from antiquity.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- nonruinous adjective
- nonruinously adverb
- nonruinousness noun
- ruinously adverb
- ruinousness noun
- unruinous adjective
- unruinously adverb
- unruinousness noun
Etymology
Origin of ruinous
1350–1400; Middle English ruynouse < Latin ruīnōsus, equivalent to ruīn ( a ) ruin + -ōsus -ous
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The great tragedies permit catharsis, and their ruinous endings are part of that process.
That’s how fast it is supposed to be able to grow without stoking ruinous inflation.
From MarketWatch
That means contending with German society’s deeply ingrained pacificism, a legacy of ruinous wars and the horrors of the Holocaust.
Blair Kinghorn was a surprise exclusion from the 23 but the Toulouse full-back is the embodiment of the gambler's instinct that's magnificent when it works and utterly ruinous when it doesn't.
From BBC
Ye ran through the ruinous effects of his injury and subsequent diagnosis, saying it caused him to avoid seeking the help he needed.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
