1
a
: broken fragments (as of rock) resulting from the decay or destruction of a building
fortifications knocked into rubble—
C. S. Forester
C. S. Forester
b
: a miscellaneous confused mass or group of usually broken or worthless things
2
: waterworn or rough broken stones or bricks used in coarse masonry or in filling courses of walls
3
: rough stone as it comes from the quarry
Synonyms
Examples of rubble in a Sentence
Noun
Rescue workers managed to pull two injured people out of the rubble.
The earthquake reduced the whole town to rubble.
Recent Examples on the WebUSA TODAY, 5 Apr. 2024
Authorities are cognizant that the bodies of four of six construction workers who were on the bridge at the time of the collapse are possibly buried in rubble on the riverbed.
—Leslie Shapiro, Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2024
Rescue workers search the rubble of a building next to the Iranian Embassy a day after an airstrike in Damascus, Syria, on Tuesday.
—Alexander Smith, NBC News, 2 Apr. 2024
Several decomposed and disfigured bodies partly buried beneath the rubble of what was once the structures of Gaza’s largest hospital can be seen in videos from obtained by CNN.
—Jessie Yeung, CNN, 1 Apr. 2024
The building overlooks the city's Courthouse Plaza and famous Whiskey Row.
After surviving the Great Fire of 1900, many of the bricks cleaned and stacked from the rubble are part of today's Hotel St. Michael.
—The Arizona Republic, 30 Mar. 2024
And the search for bodies under the rubble of the complex continued on Saturday.
—Tanya Stukalova, ABC News, 24 Mar. 2024
Specialist mine rescuers flew in from Russia’s coastal region and other Siberian regions to help dig through rubble and pump water out of the Pioneer gold mine in Eastern Siberia’s Amur region after a rock fall trapped the miners on Monday, Amur Governor Vasily Orlov wrote on Telegram.
—Stephen Sorace, Fox News, 20 Mar. 2024
Blocks of rubble, the skeletal remains of homes and shops, survivors living in the shatters who spoke of starvation and horror, collecting rainwater or risking their lives to go to the river, where soldiers shot at them.
—Phil Klay, The Atlantic, 28 Mar. 2024
NBC News, 2 Jan. 2024
City mayor says damage is 'catastrophic' Tens of thousands of homes were reduced to rubble in the initial quake.
—Christopher Cann, USA TODAY, 2 Jan. 2024
The regime shelled the city, reducing neighborhoods to rubble.
—Anand Gopal, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024
Israel's air, sea and ground offensive has reduced much of densely populated northern Gaza to rubble.
—Wafaa Shurafa and Samy Magdy The Associated Press, arkansasonline.com, 3 Mar. 2024
Israel’s air, sea and ground offensive has reduced much of densely populated northern Gaza to rubble.
—Samy Magdy, Twin Cities, 2 Mar. 2024
A day earlier, a Russian Iskander ballistic missile turned a village café and store to rubble in Hroza, a village in eastern Ukraine, killing dozens of civilians, according to Ukrainian officials.
—Hanna Arhirova The Associated Press, Arkansas Online, 7 Oct. 2023
The war has reduced much of the enclave to rubble and caused what the U.N. has called a humanitarian catastrophe.
—Fox News, 19 Feb. 2024
Her husband bulldozed the building and reduced it to rubble forever.
—Kira Caspers, The Arizona Republic, 14 Feb. 2024
Noun
Satellite imagery shows that more than 30% of Gaza's buildings − entire neighborhoods once teeming with schools, mosques, coffee shops, traffic, clothing stores, restaurants, sports fields − have been reduced to rubble.
—USA TODAY, 5 Apr. 2024
Authorities are cognizant that the bodies of four of six construction workers who were on the bridge at the time of the collapse are possibly buried in rubble on the riverbed.
—Leslie Shapiro, Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2024
Rescue workers search the rubble of a building next to the Iranian Embassy a day after an airstrike in Damascus, Syria, on Tuesday.
—Alexander Smith, NBC News, 2 Apr. 2024
Several decomposed and disfigured bodies partly buried beneath the rubble of what was once the structures of Gaza’s largest hospital can be seen in videos from obtained by CNN.
—Jessie Yeung, CNN, 1 Apr. 2024
The building overlooks the city's Courthouse Plaza and famous Whiskey Row.
After surviving the Great Fire of 1900, many of the bricks cleaned and stacked from the rubble are part of today's Hotel St. Michael.
—The Arizona Republic, 30 Mar. 2024
And the search for bodies under the rubble of the complex continued on Saturday.
—Tanya Stukalova, ABC News, 24 Mar. 2024
Specialist mine rescuers flew in from Russia’s coastal region and other Siberian regions to help dig through rubble and pump water out of the Pioneer gold mine in Eastern Siberia’s Amur region after a rock fall trapped the miners on Monday, Amur Governor Vasily Orlov wrote on Telegram.
—Stephen Sorace, Fox News, 20 Mar. 2024
Blocks of rubble, the skeletal remains of homes and shops, survivors living in the shatters who spoke of starvation and horror, collecting rainwater or risking their lives to go to the river, where soldiers shot at them.
—Phil Klay, The Atlantic, 28 Mar. 2024
Verb
Nearly all Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes under a bombardment that has reduced much of the territory to rubble.
—NBC News, 2 Jan. 2024
City mayor says damage is 'catastrophic' Tens of thousands of homes were reduced to rubble in the initial quake.
—Christopher Cann, USA TODAY, 2 Jan. 2024
The regime shelled the city, reducing neighborhoods to rubble.
—Anand Gopal, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024
Israel's air, sea and ground offensive has reduced much of densely populated northern Gaza to rubble.
—Wafaa Shurafa and Samy Magdy The Associated Press, arkansasonline.com, 3 Mar. 2024
Israel’s air, sea and ground offensive has reduced much of densely populated northern Gaza to rubble.
—Samy Magdy, Twin Cities, 2 Mar. 2024
A day earlier, a Russian Iskander ballistic missile turned a village café and store to rubble in Hroza, a village in eastern Ukraine, killing dozens of civilians, according to Ukrainian officials.
—Hanna Arhirova The Associated Press, Arkansas Online, 7 Oct. 2023
The war has reduced much of the enclave to rubble and caused what the U.N. has called a humanitarian catastrophe.
—Fox News, 19 Feb. 2024
Her husband bulldozed the building and reduced it to rubble forever.
—Kira Caspers, The Arizona Republic, 14 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rubble.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near rubble
Cite this Entry
“Rubble.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rubble. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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