ruinate

ruinate

English

Etymology

From the participle stem of Latin ruino.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɹuːɪneɪt/

Verb

ruinate (third-person singular simple present ruinates, present participle ruinating, simple past and past participle ruinated)

1. (transitive, now rare) To reduce to ruins; to destroy.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.viii:

     Towres, Cities, Kingdomes ye would ruinate, / In your auengement and dispiteous rage […].

   • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, (please specify |partition=1, 2, or 3):

     , New York Review of Books, 2001, p.51:

     […] as in lust, [animals] covet carnal copulation at set times, men always, ruinating thereby the health of their bodies.

2. (intransitive) To fall; to tumble.

Adjective

ruinate (not comparable)

1. Falling into ruin; decrepit.

Anagrams

• Taurine, taurine, uranite, urinate