ruinous

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

adjective extremely harmful; bringing physical or financial ruin
adjective causing injury or blight; especially affecting with sudden violence or plague or ruin

From Middle English ruynous, from Old French ruinos, ruineus, from Latin ruīnōsus. By surface analysis, ruin + -ous.

It is ruinous; repair Thou it. — The Confessions of St. Augustine, of Hippo, Saint Augustine
“That is an atrocious, a ruinous epistle! — Sketches New and Old, Mark Twain
Telegrams from or to Finland are ruinous. — Through Finland in Carts, Mrs. (Ethel) Alec-Tweedie

catastrophic

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