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Showing results for ruinous. Search instead for Pruinous.
Synonyms

ruinous

American  
[roo-uh-nuhs] / ˈru ə nəs /

adjective

  1. bringing or tending to bring ruin; destructive; disastrous.

    a ruinous war.
    Synonyms:
    catastrophic, devastating, calamitous

  2. fallen into ruin; dilapidated.

    a ruinous house.

  3. consisting of ruins.

    a ruinous city from antiquity.
ruinous British  
/ ˈruːɪnəs /

adjective

  1. causing, tending to cause, or characterized by ruin or destruction

    a ruinous course of action
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

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.