rubble

American  

[ruhb-uhl, roo-buhl] / ˈrʌb əl, ˈru bəl /

noun

1. broken bits and pieces of anything, as that which is demolished.

   Bombing reduced the town to rubble.

2. any solid substance, as ice, in irregularly broken pieces.

3. rough fragments of broken stone, formed by geological processes, in quarrying, etc., and sometimes used in masonry.

4. masonry built of rough fragments of broken stone.

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rubble British  

/ ˈrʌbəl /

noun

1. fragments of broken stones, bricks, etc

2. any fragmented solid material, esp the debris from ruined buildings

3. quarrying the weathered surface layer of rock

4. Also called: rubblework.  masonry constructed of broken pieces of rock, stone, etc

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Other Word Forms

• rubbly adjective

Etymology

Origin of rubble

1350–1400; Middle English rubel, robil < ?; rubbish

Example Sentences

Any effort by Iran to recover highly enriched uranium—what Trump calls “nuclear dust”—buried under rubble after strikes on three nuclear sites last June could take months, Trump said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2026

The woman trapped in the rubble had been living in the complex with her husband and young daughter.

From BBC • Mar. 27, 2026

Some of the buildings at the Thahtay Kyaung monastery, where saffron-clad monks cleared rubble from the wreckage by hand in the days after the quake, have been razed.

From Barron's • Mar. 26, 2026

Inmates dug through rubble to excavate their own jailers, said relatives of current prisoners.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026

Pieces of mannequin lay scattered in the rubble.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

Related Words

• debris