Definition of "ruin" []

• Total destruction or disintegration, either physical, moral, social, or economic. (noun)
• A cause of total destruction. (noun)
• The act of destroying totally. (noun)
• A destroyed person, object, or building. (noun)
• The remains of something destroyed, disintegrated, or decayed. Often used in the plural: studied the ruins of ancient Greece. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "A poor little sea-wall, never much at its best, sprawled in ruin from the coconut roots to the placid sea."
• "She had looked so exceptionally well-dressed the previous evening he had supposed that what she called ruin was comparative affluence, for Bruce had not yet learned that clothes are unsafe standards by which to judge the resources of city folks, just as on the plains and in the mountains faded overalls and a ragged shirt are equally untrustworthy guides to a man's financial rating."
• "This hint was enough: the old man capitulated without another opposing argument, and consented to what he termed the ruin of his youngest son."