Meanings
plural ruiners
- Someone who ruins.
There was a ruined uncle in the family group—ruined by his brother, the Father of the Marshalsea, and knowing no more how than his ruiner did, but accepting the fact as something that could not be helped.
1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC1 more example
Me being your girlfriend was making everything worse. / Why would you think that? / Because it's true. I mean, think about when we met. I was so mean. And then we got together, and I kissed someone else. It's what I do. I ruin things. I ruin things. I'm a ruiner. / Stop it. Don't talk about yourself like that.
2021, Robia Rashid, “Dessert at Olive Garden” (1:19 from the start), in Michael Medico, director, Atypical, season 4, episode 10, spoken by Casey and Izzie (Jack Haven and Fivel Stewart), via Netflix
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
nouna person who destroys or ruins or lays waste to
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Cite this entry
ruiner. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ruiner
“ruiner.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ruiner. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ruiner,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ruiner.
Source: ruiner on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.