ruinous

[roo-uh-nuhs]

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

/ ˈruːɪnəs /

adjective

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

   a ruinous course of action

Other Word Forms

• ruinously adverb
• ruinousness noun
• nonruinous adjective
• nonruinously adverb
• nonruinousness noun
• unruinous adjective
• unruinously adverb
• unruinousness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of ruinous¹

1350–1400; Middle English ruynouse < Latin ruīnōsus, equivalent to ruīn ( a ) ruin + -ōsus -ous

Example Sentences

Milei once described the peso as excrement, but now he is pursuing a similar policy of propping it up that some economists say proved ruinous for his predecessors.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

I won’t spoil how, but it’s emotionally ruinous for the people involved, even if Mr. Laxe stages it with a bit of cheapening suspense.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

In her petition to the Supreme Court, Davis argued that Obergefell created a new constitutional right out of whole cloth that had ruinous consequences for religious liberty.

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John Kennedy’s greatest fear was that he and Nikita Khrushchev were making the same mistakes as past leaders, bumbling down the same ruinous road.

Read more on Literature

Note the irony of celebrating Nixon and Kissinger for abandoning the ruinous policies toward Russia, China and Vietnam that they had risen to power advocating.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• calamitous 
• cataclysmic 
• catastrophic 
• crippling 
• damaging 
• deadly 
• dire 
• fatal 
• harmful 
• hurtful 
• murderous 
• pernicious