Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

ruinous

/ˈɹuː.ɪnəs/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.69 in modern English

Syllables: ru-inous
IPA: /ˈɹuː.ɪnəs/

7

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

3

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Causing ruin; destructive, calamitous.

adj

Extremely costly; so expensive as to cause financial ruin.

adj

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

Example Sentences

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

Etymology

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

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: ruynous, ruinos, ruīnōsus

Inflected Forms

more ruinous (comparative) most ruinous (superlative)

Derived Forms

ruinously ruinousness

Synonyms

ramshackle blasting catastrophic

Questions

How do you pronounce ruinous?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈɹuː.ɪnəs/.
What does ruinous mean?: Causing ruin; destructive, calamitous.
Where does ruinous come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce ruinous

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “ruinous”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈɹuː.ɪnəs/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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