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# ruin

«ruin» in Mova's school dictionary: **to damage or spoil it so badly that it is no good any…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (ruin, ruins, ruined, ruining); noun (a ruin, ruins; in ruins)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To ruin something means to damage or spoil it so badly that it is no good any more: rain ruined the picnic. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/ruin/#m1)

2) A ruin is what is left of an old building that has fallen down, or the ruins of a town. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/ruin/#m2)

3) Ruin can mean losing all your money: the business faced ruin. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/ruin/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In history lessons, pupils visit or study ruins — old castles, abbeys, Roman forts — to learn how people lived. In everyday life, «ruin» is used when plans or things are spoilt: muddy shoes ruin the carpet, one spoiler ruins the film. In stories it shows disaster. Phrases: in ruins, ruin the surprise, ruin someone's day, castle ruins, go to ruin.

### examples

- The rain ruined our picnic. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/ruin/#x1)
- Don't tell me the ending — you'll ruin the book! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/ruin/#x2)
- We explored the ruins of an old castle. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/ruin/#x3)
- The city was left in ruins after the earthquake. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/ruin/#x4)
- Spilling juice ruined my drawing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/ruin/#x5)
- Romans built the fort, and now only ruins remain. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/ruin/#x6)
- Too much salt can ruin the soup. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/ruin/#x7)
- My little brother ruined the surprise by telling Mum. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/ruin/#x8)
- "It's enough to ruin one's nerves. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/ruin/#x9)

### note

Regular verb: ruined. Noun is often plural for buildings: «the ruins of Rome». «In ruins» means badly destroyed. Ruined things usually cannot be fixed easily, but a «ruined» day can be just a disappointing day — people exaggerate.

### In the corpora

- [A missing piece rarely ruins a model: builders swap in another brick, and single pieces can be ordered.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/32-lego-builds-instructions-vs-your-own-ideas/11/)
- [Sooner or later he will be killed or ruined.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/38-willows-ch4-part2-toad-news-and-hedgehogs/3/)
- [The Rat is very cross: his boat is lost and his nice suit ruined.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/66-willows-ch11-part2-the-wild-wooders-take-toad-hall/11/)
- [And simply ruined that nice suit of clothes that I lent you!»](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/66-willows-ch11-part2-the-wild-wooders-take-toad-hall/27/)
- [Bring toys in after playing outside, because rain and sun ruin toys and metal parts rust.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/242-sharing-toys-and-board-games/13/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «ruin» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/ruin/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.