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History vocabulary · Archaeology Basics

Ruins

Meaning in history, with examples

/ˈruːɪnz/nounCore term

In history, ruins means: The remaining parts of buildings or a town that has been destroyed or has fallen down over time.

In Turkish: kalıntılar, harabeler, örenler

How it is used

Usually plural: the ruins of a city, Roman ruins. A building lies in ruins, falls into ruin or is left in ruins after a war. Tourists visit ruins; archaeologists usually prefer remains or the site. As a verb, ruin means to destroy or spoil.

Example sentences

  1. The ruins of Ephesus attract large numbers of visitors every year.

  2. By the nineteenth century the castle had fallen into ruin.

Common collocations

  • ancient ruins
  • the ruins of
  • lie in ruins
  • fall into ruin
  • Roman ruins
  • archaeological siteA place where evidence of past human activity has been found or preserved, such as the remains of a settlement, cemetery, temple or workshop.
  • excavationThe careful digging and recording of an archaeological site to uncover buildings, objects and other remains in the order in which they were buried.
  • archaeologyThe study of the human past through the material remains people left behind, such as buildings, tools, pottery, bones and traces in the soil.
  • ancientBelonging to the very distant past, especially to the period before the end of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century AD.

More terms: Archaeology Basics

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