ruin

1 verb (T)

1 to spoil or destroy something completely: The rain ruined our holiday. | My new white dress was totally ruined!

—see destroy

2 to make someone lose all their money: Jefferson was ruined by the law suit.

— ruined adjective (only before noun): ruined houses 2 noun

1 (U) a situation in which you have lost all your money, your social position, or the good opinion that people had about you: lead to sb's ruin: Joe's rashness led ultimately to his ruin. | be on the road to ruin (=be doing something that will make you lose your money, position etc) | be on the brink of ruin (=be about to lose all your money or your position): With the collapse of grain prices, small farmers are on the brink of financial ruin.

2 be the ruin of humorous to make someone lose all their money, their good health, the good opinion that other people have about them etc: Drinking was the ruin of him.

3 (C) also ruins the part of a building that is left after the rest has been destroyed: an interesting old ruin | the ruins of a bombed-out office block

4 the ruins of the parts of something such as an organization, system, or set of ideas that remain after the rest have been destroyed: the ruins of the Welfare State in post-Thatcher Britain

5 be/lie in ruins

a) if a building is in ruins it has fallen down or been badly damaged: The castle now lies in ruins.

b) if someone's life, hopes, plans, or an organization is in ruins, they are having great problems and cannot continue: After the war the Japanese economy lay in ruins.

6 go to ruin also fall into ruin if something goes to ruin it becomes damaged or destroyed because no one is taking care of it: His brother had let the farm go to ruin.

—see also: mother's ruin, go to rack and ruin rack 1 (4)