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Ruin vs Vitiate - What's the difference?

ruin | vitiate |

As a noun ruin

is .

As a verb vitiate is

to spoil, make faulty; to reduce the value, quality, or effectiveness of something.

ruin

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The remains of a destroyed or dilapidated construction, such as a house or castle.
  • *(Joseph Addison) (1672–1719)
  • *:The Veian and the Gabian towers shall fall, / And one promiscuous ruin' cover all; / Nor, after length of years, a stone betray / The place where once the very ' ruins lay.
  • *(Joseph Stevens Buckminster) (1751-1812)
  • *:The labour of a day will not build up a virtuous habit on the ruins of an old and vicious character.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.}}
  • (lb) The state of being a ruin, destroyed or decayed.
  • :
  • (lb) Something that leads to serious trouble or destruction.
  • :
  • *(Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
  • *:The errors of young men are the ruin of business.
  • *
  • *:The Bat—they called him the Bat.. Most lone wolves had a moll at any rate—women were their ruin —but if the Bat had a moll, not even the grapevine telegraph could locate her.
  • (lb) A fall or tumble.
  • *(George Chapman) (1559-1634)
  • *:His ruin startled the other steeds.
  • A change that destroys or defeats something; destruction; overthrow.
  • :
  • *(Thomas Gray) (1716-1771)
  • *:Ruin seize thee, ruthless king!
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • to cause the ruin of.
  • * 1883 ,
  • In one way, indeed, he bade fair to ruin us; for he kept on staying week after week, and at last month after month, so that all the money had been long exhausted...
  • To destroy or make something no longer usable.
  • He ruined his new white slacks by accidentally spilling oil on them.
  • * Longfellow
  • By the fireside there are old men seated, / Seeling ruined cities in the ashes.
  • To upset or mess up the plans or progress of, or to put into disarray; to spoil.
  • My car breaking down just as I was on the road ruined my vacation.

    Synonyms

    * destroy * fordo * ruinate * wreck

    Antonyms

    * build * construct * found * produce

    vitiate

    English

    Verb

    (vitiat)
  • to spoil, make faulty; to reduce the value, quality, or effectiveness of something
  • *1851 ,
  • There was excellent blood in his veins—royal stuff; though sadly vitiated , I fear, by the cannibal propensity he nourished in his untutored youth.
  • * 1997': ‘Mr Rose,’ says the Physician, ‘this man was brought to us from Russia. Precisely such a case of '''vitiated judgment as I describe at length in my Treatise on Madness. Mayhap you have read it?’ — Andrew Miller, ''Ingenious Pain
  • to debase or morally corrupt
  • *1890 , Leo Tolstoy,
  • *:The robber does not intentionally vitiate people, but the governments, to accomplish their ends, vitiate whole generations from childhood to manhood with false religions and patriotic instruction.
  • (archaic) to violate, to rape
  • * 1965': ‘Crush the cockatrice,’ he groaned, from his death-cell. ‘I am dead in law’ – but of the girl he denied that he had ‘attempted to '''vitiate her at Nine years old’; for ‘upon the word of a dying man, both her Eyes did see, and her Hands did act in all that was done’. — John Fowles, ''The Magus
  • to make something ineffective, to invalidate
  • *{{quote-book
  • , author = , title = , year = 1734 , page = 78 , passage = ...all the hinges of the animal frame are subverted, every animal function is vitiated ; the carcass retains but just life enough to make it capable of suffering. }}