Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - 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. archaic a falling down ; collapse from age to age…the crash of ~ fitfully resounds — William Wordsworth  b. physical, moral, economic, or social collapse  2.  a. the state of being ~ed — archaic except in plural the city lay in ~s  b. the remains of something destroyed — usually used in plural the ~s of an ancient temple the ~s of his life  3. a cause of destruction  4.  a. the action of destroying, laying waste, or wrecking  b. damage, injury  5. a ~ed building, person, or object  • ~ate adjective  • ~ate transitive verb  II. verb  Date: 1585  transitive verb  1. to reduce to ~s ; devastate  2.  a. to damage irreparably  b. bankrupt, impoverish ~ed by stock speculation  3. to subject to frustration, failure, or disaster will ~ your chances of promotion  intransitive verb to become ~ed  • ~er noun