Word Study
ruinous
CIDE DICTIONARY
ruinous, a. [L. ruinosus: cf. F. ruineux. See Ruin.].
- Causing, or tending to cause, ruin; destructive; baneful; pernicious; as, a ruinous project. [1913 Webster]"After a night of storm so ruinous." [1913 Webster]
- Characterized by ruin; ruined; dilapidated; as, an edifice, bridge, or wall in a ruinous state. [1913 Webster]
- Composed of, or consisting in, ruins. [1913 Webster]"Behold, Damascus . . . shall be a ruinous heap." [1913 Webster]
Syn. -- Dilapidated; decayed; demolished; pernicious; destructive; baneful; wasteful; mischievous.
OXFORD DICTIONARY
ruinous, adj.
1 bringing ruin; disastrous (at ruinous expense).
2 in ruins; dilapidated.
1 bringing ruin; disastrous (at ruinous expense).
2 in ruins; dilapidated.
Derivative
ruinously adv. ruinousness n.
Etymology
ME f. L ruinosus (as RUIN)
THESAURUS
ruinous
ablative, annihilative, ausgespielt, baleful, baneful, bankrupt, battered, beat-up, beaten up, bedraggled, biodegradable, black, blasted, blighted, blowzy, broken, broken-down, calamitous, careless, cataclysmal, cataclysmic, catastrophic, chintzy, consuming, consumptive, corrosive, crippling, crumbling, deadly, decomposable, decomposing, decrepit, degradable, deleterious, demolishing, demolitionary, depredatory, derelict, desolated, desolating, destroyed, destroying, destructive, devastated, devastating, dilapidated, dire, disastrous, disintegrable, disintegrated, disintegrating, disintegrative, disjunctive, disruptive, done for, done in, doomful, down-and-out, drabbletailed, draggled, draggletailed, dusty, erosive, fallen, fatal, fateful, finished, fratricidal, frowzy, frumpish, frumpy, fusty, gone to pot, gone to seed, grievous, grubby, harmful, in rags, in ruins, informal, injurious, internecine, irremediable, kaput, loose, lumpen, messy, mildewed, moldering, moldy, moss-grown, moth-eaten, mussy, musty, nasty, negligent, nihilist, nihilistic, noxious, overthrown, pernicious, poisonous, poky, ragged, raggedy, ramshackle, ravaged, ravaging, resolvent, ruined, ruining, run-down, rusty, scraggly, seedy, self-destructive, separative, shabby, shattering, shoddy, slack, slatternly, slipshod, sloppy, slovenly, slummy, sluttish, solvent, sordid, spoiled, squalid, stale, subversionary, subversive, suicidal, tacky, tattered, time-scarred, timeworn, tottery, toxic, tragic, tumbledown, undone, unkempt, unneat, unsightly, untidy, vandalic, vandalish, vandalistic, wasted, wasteful, wasting, withering, worn, wrecked, wreckfulROGET THESAURUS
ruinous
Adversity
N adversity, evil, failure, bad luck, ill luck, evil luck, adverse luck, hard fortune, hard hap, hard luck, hard lot, frowns of fortune, evil dispensation, evil star, evil genius, vicissitudes of life, ups and downs of life, broken fortunes, hard case, hard lines, hard life, sea of troubles, peck of troubles, hell upon earth, slough of despond, trouble, hardship, curse, blight, blast, load, pressure, pressure of the times, iron age, evil day, time out of joint, hard times, bad times, sad times, rainy day, cloud, dark cloud, gathering clouds, ill wind, visitation, infliction, affliction, bitter pill, care, trial, the sport of fortune, mishap, mischance, misadventure, misfortune, disaster, calamity, catastrophe, accident, casualty, cross, reverse, check, contretemps, rub, backset, comedown, setback, losing game, falling, fall, downfall, ruination, ruinousness, undoing, extremity, ruin, unfortunate, unblest, unhappy, unlucky, improsperous, unprosperous, hoodooed, luckless, hapless, out of luck, in trouble, in a bad way, in an evil plight, under a cloud, clouded, ill off, badly off, in adverse circumstances, poor, behindhand, down in the world, decayed, undone, on the road to ruin, on its last legs, on the wane, in one's utmost need, planet-struck, devoted, born under an evil star, born with a wooden ladle in one's mouth, ill-fated, ill-starred, ill-omened, adverse, untoward, disastrous, calamitous, ruinous, dire, deplorable.Destruction
N destruction, waste, dissolution, breaking up, diruption, disruption, consumption, disorganization, fall, downfall, devastation, ruin, perdition, crash, eboulement, smash, havoc, delabrement, debacle, break down, break up, fall apart, prostration, desolation, bouleversement, wreck, wrack, shipwreck, cataclysm, washout, extinction, annihilation, destruction of life, knock-down blow, doom, crack of doom, destroying, demolition, demolishment, overthrow, subversion, suppression, abolition, biblioclasm, sacrifice, ravage, razzia, inactivation, incendiarism, revolution, extirpation, beginning of the end, commencement de la fin, road to ruin, dilapidation, sabotage, destroyed, perishing, trembling to its fall, nodding to its fall, tottering to its fall, in course of destruction, extinct, all-destroying, all-devouring, all-engulfing, destructive, subversive, ruinous, devastating, incendiary, deletory, destroying, suicidal, deadly, with crushing effect, with a sledge hammer, delenda est Carthago, dum Roma deliberat Saguntum perit, ecrasez l'infame.Painfulness
N painfulness, trouble, care, trial, affliction, infliction, blow, stroke, burden, load, curse, bitter pill, bitter draught, waters of bitterness, annoyance, grievance, nuisance, vexation, mortification, sickener, bore, bother, pother, hot water, sea of troubles, hornet's nest, plague, pest, cancer, ulcer, sting, thorn, canker, scorpion, dagger, scourge, carking care, canker worm of care, mishap, misfortune, desagrement, esclandre, rub, source of irritation, source of annoyance, wound, open sore, sore subject, skeleton in the closet, thorn in the flesh, thorn in one's side, where the shoe pinches, gall and wormwood, sorry sight, heavy news, provocation, affront, head and front of one's offending, infestation, molestation, malignity, causing pain, hurting, hurtful, painful, dolorific, dolorous, unpleasant, unpleasing, displeasing, disagreeable, unpalatable, bitter, distasteful, uninviting, unwelcome, undesirable, undesired, obnoxious, unacceptable, unpopular, thankless, unsatisfactory, untoward, unlucky, uncomfortable, distressing, afflicting, afflictive, joyless, cheerless, comfortless, dismal, disheartening, depressing, depressive, dreary, melancholy, grievous, piteous, woeful, rueful, mournful, deplorable, pitiable, lamentable, sad, affecting, touching, pathetic, irritating, provoking, stinging, annoying, aggravating, mortifying, galling, unaccommodating, invidious, vexatious, troublesome, tiresome, irksome, wearisome, plaguing, plaguy, awkward, importunate, teasing, pestering, bothering, harassing, worrying, tormenting, carking, intolerable, insufferable, insupportable, unbearable, unendurable, past bearing, not to be borne, not to be endured, more than flesh and blood can bear, enough to drive one mad, enough to provoke a saint, enough to make a parson swear, enough to gag a maggot, shocking, terrific, grim, appalling, crushing, dreadful, fearful, frightful, thrilling, tremendous, dire, heart-breaking, heart-rending, heart-wounding, heart-corroding, heart-sickening, harrowing, rending, odious, hateful, execrable, repulsive, repellent, abhorrent, horrid, horrible, horrific, horrifying, offensive, nauseous, nauseating, disgusting, sickening, revolting, nasty, loathsome, loathful, fulsome, vile, hideous, sharp, acute, sore, severe, grave, hard, harsh, cruel, biting, caustic, cutting, corroding, consuming, racking, excruciating, searching, grinding, grating, agonizing, envenomed, catheretic, pyrotic, ruinous, disastrous, calamitous, tragical, desolating, withering, burdensome, onerous, oppressive, cumbrous, cumbersome, painfully, with pain, deuced, Int, hinc illae lachrymae!, surgit amari aliquid, the place being too hot to hold one, the iron entering into the soul, he jests at scars that never felt a wound, I must be cruel only to be kind, what deep wounds ever closed without a scar?.For further exploring for "ruinous" in Webster Dictionary Online