How to Use ruination in a Sentence

ruination

noun
  • Water pollution is causing the ruination of the fishing industry.
  • Weir helped birth the new world, watched its ruination, and spent the autumn of his life rebuilding it.
    — Jeff Weiss, Spin, 21 Aug. 2023
  • Over the past three years, there have been other life ruination candidates.
    — Stephen Rodrick, Rolling Stone, 9 Sep. 2021
  • Fire is to piers what water was to the Wicked Witch of the West — a ruination.
    — Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 5 June 2024
  • With that would come the ruination of many individual lives as well.
    — Agya K. Aning, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5 Aug. 2020
  • Be it getting booed or being ghosted, the ruination will be utilized.
    — Danyel Smith, New York Times, 8 Feb. 2023
  • The only thing that would satisfy the gremlin in me is the ruination of my freedom.
    — Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 19 Mar. 2026
  • And then, boom, blackout and ruination reign as humans are picked off en masse by blind, sound-chasing monsters.
    — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 24 June 2024
  • For his complete lack of sins, he is punished with an infinity of ruination.
    — Darren Franich, EW.com, 11 May 2020
  • Reid, who died in late 2021, lived to see the utter ruination of his plans by his own actions.
    — The Editors, National Review, 21 Nov. 2023
  • By now, my colleagues have grown accustomed to my gleeful ruination of the workplace.
    — Ariel Dumas, New Yorker, 14 Nov. 2025
  • The ruination of slavery was more than the infernal indignity of being owned like a mule or a plow.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 27 Sep. 2019
  • Fleeing from ruination is not simply a matter of movement, either.
    — Robin George Andrews, The Atlantic, 9 May 2020
  • The ruination of Obamacare is once again tied up with keeping the government running.
    — Ryan Lizza, The New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2017
  • In essence, not properly processing our body’s needs and its requirements tempts ruination.
    — Nicholas Bell, SPIN, 31 July 2024
  • The death of the tree stands in for the ruination of the earth by capitalism and industrialization.
    — Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2020
  • We are struck less by nature’s sublime powers than by the enormity of our capacity for ruination.
    — Washington Post, 7 Feb. 2020
  • The thick, wobbly black lines were evidence of constant repainting, and could suggest ruination or collapse.
    — New York Times, 26 Apr. 2022
  • Athens used its financial power to abuse its allies and in doing so precipitated its own ruination.
    — Henry Farrell, Foreign Affairs, 24 Jan. 2020
  • Their parents neglected to read the fine print of the college loan paperwork, which ultimately led to the ruination of many young people.
    — Jack Kelly, Forbes, 6 Nov. 2021
  • Philip has been on this track for a while, though Martha’s ruination and Paige’s entanglement in the family secret hasn’t helped.
    — James Poniewozik, New York Times, 8 June 2016
  • Proponents of the curse theory pointed to centuries of death, injury, ruination, quarrels, and dreams dashed upon the rocks.
    — Lauren Collins, The New Yorker, 22 July 2024
  • Wedding fundraising pages are not invoices that require payment under threat of credit ruination.
    — R. Eric Thomas, Mercury News, 19 Oct. 2025
  • Davis and Stocker are interested not in the ruination of the palace, however, but in its beginnings.
    — Myrto Papadopoulos, Smithsonian, 2 May 2017
  • Davis and Stocker are interested not in the ruination of the palace, however, but in its beginnings.
    — Myrto Papadopoulos, Smithsonian, 30 Sep. 2017
  • Cool cameo for your kid, maybe — or a dramatization of the precise fear motivating Anakin toward ruination.
    — Darren Franich, EW.com, 3 Dec. 2019
  • Morris in particular is brought so low that he is reduced to begging on his hands and knees for Russell to undo their financial ruination.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 8 Feb. 2022
  • Besides the ruination of what was supposed to be an enjoyable escape, there is a concern too about impacting traffic and the adverse results thereof.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 26 May 2021
  • In a matter of seconds, the martingale could deliver dizzying jackpots or, equally as often, ruination.
    — Frederick Kaufman, The New Yorker, 19 Mar. 2021
  • What happens when a con artist crosses paths with a CIA agent one night in a bar when both parties are reeling from recent romantic ruination?
    — Dan Snierson, EW.com, 19 Feb. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ruination.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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