RUIN

I. noun Etymology: Middle English ~e, from Anglo-French, from Latin ~a, from ruere to rush headlong, fall, collapse Date: 12th century 1. a falling down ; collapse , physical, moral, economic, or social collapse, 2. the state of being ~ed, the remains of something destroyed, a cause of destruction, 4. the action of destroying, laying waste, or wrecking, damage , injury , a ~ed building, person, or object, ~ate adjective ~ate transitive verb II. verb Date: 1585 transitive verb to reduce to ~s ; devastate , 2. to damage irreparably, bankrupt , impoverish , to subject to frustration, failure, or disaster , intransitive verb to become ~ed, ~er noun