rubble

1 of 2

noun

rub·​ble ˈrə-bəl 

1

a

: broken fragments (as of rock) resulting from the decay or destruction of a building

fortifications knocked into rubble

—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

rubble

2 of 2

verb

rubbled; rubbling ˈrə-b(ə-)liŋ 

transitive verb

: to reduce to rubble

Synonyms

Noun

• ashes
• debris
• detritus
• flotsam
• remains
• residue
• ruins
• wreck
• wreckage

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 Web

Noun

The photo shows a large crowd of more than 200 people, crouching low amid the rubble of Jabalya in northern Gaza. —Abeer Salman, CNN, 29 Oct. 2024

There is reason to believe that there may be tens of thousands more people buried under the rubble. —Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 24 Oct. 2024

Verb

Israel’s campaign in Gaza – launched following the Hamas attacks of October 7 – has killed more than 40,000 people and reduced much of the territory to rubble. —Mohammad Al Sawalhi, CNN, 18 Aug. 2024

On Our Radar -Once on track for Forbes’ Billionaires list, record-making producer Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is facing a long and growing list of allegations that have reduced his empire to rubble. —Zoya Hasan, Forbes, 27 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English robyl

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1944, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

rubble

noun

rub·​ble

ˈrəb-əl

1

: rough broken stones or bricks used in building

2

: a confused mass of rough or broken things