ruinous

English

Etymology

From Middle English ruynous, from Old French ruinos, ruineus, from Latin ruīnōsus. By surface analysis, ruin +‎ -ous.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹuː.ɪnəs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

ruinous (comparative more ruinous, superlative most ruinous)

1. Causing ruin; destructive, calamitous.
2. Extremely costly; so expensive as to cause financial ruin.

   They were forced to completely replace the roof at ruinous expense.

   • 2025 September 23, Donald Trump, speech at United Nations:

     We are rapidly reversing the economic calamity we inherited from the previous administration, including ruinous price increases and record-setting inflation, inflation like we've never had before.

3. Characterized by ruin; ruined; dilapidated; as, an edifice, bridge, or wall in a ruinous state.

Synonyms

• (characterized by ruin): See Thesaurus:ramshackle

Derived terms

• ruinously
• ruinousness

Translations

destructive

• Asturian: ruinosu
• Bulgarian: разрушителен (bg) (razrušitelen), гибелен (bg) (gibelen)
• Catalan: ruïnós
• French: ruineux (fr)
• Italian: rovinoso (it)
• Latin: calamitōsus, perniciosus
• Norman: ruinneux
• Portuguese: ruinoso (pt)
• Sardinian: arruinósu
• Scottish Gaelic: sgriosail
• Spanish: ruinoso (es)
• Venetan: rovinóxo

dilapidated

• Spanish: ruinoso (es)

Further reading

• “ruinous”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “ruinous”, in The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “ruinous”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• urinous