ruinate

R1U1I1N1A1T1E1
UK/ˈɹuːɪneɪt/

verb

To reduce to ruins; to destroy.

OriginLatin ruino →
Scrabble 7
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Meanings

verbruinate (third-person singular simple present ruinates, present participle ruinating, simple past and past participle ruinated)

present singular third person ruinates · participle present ruinating · participle past ruinated · past ruinated

  1. archaictransitiveTo reduce to ruins; to destroy.

    Towres, Cities, Kingdomes ye would ruinate, / In your auengement and dispiteous rage […].

    1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
    1 more example

    […]as in lust, [animals] covet carnal copulation at set times, men always, ruinating thereby the health of their bodies.

    1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York: New York Review Books, published 2001, →ISBN, page 51
  2. intransitiveTo fall; to tumble.
adjectiveruinate (not comparable)
  1. not comparableFalling into ruin; decrepit.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
abatedestroyruin

Origin

  1. Latinruino
  2. Englishruinate

From the participle stem of Latin ruino.

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

taurineurinateTeurianuraniteIturean
Cite this entry
APA

ruinate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ruinate

MLA

“ruinate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ruinate. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ruinate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ruinate.

Source: ruinate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.