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

Responding firefighters helped remove the injured man from the rubble. —Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 5 June 2025

The pair found the artifact in a pile of rubble near former infantry barracks. —Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 4 June 2025

The search was suspended Friday as darkness fell and will be resumed early Saturday for those reported still buried under the rubble along with three excavators and six trucks, said the National Disaster Management Agency's spokesperson Abdul Muhari in a statement. —Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, Arkansas Online, 31 May 2025

The Fillers have spent all of 2024 and 2025 so far picking up 80 years of garbage and buried rubble inside and outside of the buildings. —Anna Ortiz, Chicago Tribune, 31 May 2025

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

Rhymes for rubble

• bubble
• double
• stubble
• trouble
• redouble

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