ruinous

CEFRC1

/ˈɹuː.ɪnəs/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Causing great damage, loss, or destruction.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

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

Examples

  • Absolute tolerance is ruinous to a tolerant society.

  • They were forced to completely replace the roof at ruinous expense.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
1
Synonyms
1

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Extremely costly; so expensive as to cause financial ruin.

  2. Causing ruin; destructive, calamitous.

More examples

In context

  • We are rapidly reversing the economic calamity we inherited from the previous administration, including ruinous price increases and record-setting inflation, inflation like we've never had before.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The hurricane caused blank damage to the coastal villages, destroying almost everything.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English ruynous, from Old French ruinos, ruineus, from Latin ruīnōsus. By surface analysis, ruin + -ous.