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 WebMohammad Al Sawalhi, CNN, 26 June 2024
There are gravel ramparts and rubble patches and rocky outcroppings, all of which suggest an eventful history of working and reworking by the elements.
—Raymond Zhong, New York Times, 26 June 2024
Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 27 June 2024
Frequent Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages have reduced many of these communities to rubble.
—Ben Wedeman, CNN, 24 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for rubble 
Noun
Scenes of ‘massacre’ at local hospitals The footage obtained by CNN from the area shows survivors clambering over rubble as missiles streak across the sky.
—Mohammad Al Sawalhi, CNN, 26 June 2024
There are gravel ramparts and rubble patches and rocky outcroppings, all of which suggest an eventful history of working and reworking by the elements.
—Raymond Zhong, New York Times, 26 June 2024
Verb
It was reduced to rubble by white mobs after a wave of racial violence, and estimates say that mobs killed 300 people and injured 800 more.
—Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 27 June 2024
Frequent Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages have reduced many of these communities to rubble.
—Ben Wedeman, CNN, 24 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for rubble
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 15 Jul. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share