American English

Definition of ruinous adjective from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary



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  1. 1costing a lot of money and more than you can afford ruinous legal fees They were forced to sell out at a ruinous loss.
  2. 2causing serious problems or damage synonym devastating The decision was to prove ruinous. Such action would be ruinous to her career. a ruinous mistake
  3. 3(formal) (of a town, building, etc.) destroyed or severely damaged a ruinous chapel The buildings were in a ruinous state.
ruinously adverb
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ruinously expensive
See the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary entry: ruinous