Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A loose mass of angular fragments of rock or masonry crumbled by natural or human forces.
- n. Irregular fragments or pieces of rock used in masonry.
- n. The masonry made with such rocks.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Rough stones of irregular shapes and sizes, broken from larger masses either naturally or artificially, as by geological action, in quarrying, or in stone-cutting or blasting. Rubble is used in masonry both for rough, uncoursed work and for filling in between outer courses of squared stone. See
rubblework . - n. Masonry of rubble; rubble-work.
- n. By extension, any solid substance in irregularly broken pieces. A mass or aggregation of irregular pieces of ice broken off by the action of heavy floes, as in the arctic seas.
- n. The whole of the bran of wheat before it is sorted into pollard, bran, etc. [Prov. Eng.]
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Water-worn or rough broken stones; broken bricks, etc., used in coarse masonry, or to fill up between the facing courses of walls.
- n. Rough stone as it comes from the quarry; also, a quarryman's term for the upper fragmentary and decomposed portion of a mass of stone; brash.
- n. A mass or stratum of fragments or rock lying under the alluvium, and derived from the neighboring rock.
- n. The whole of the bran of wheat before it is sorted into pollard, bran, etc.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the remains of something that has been destroyed or broken up
Etymologies
- Middle English rubel.
Examples
“It takes only a moment to turn what you describe as rubble into a series of activities, of joyous moments.”
“Between 1999 and 2001, the Muslim Waqf removed and dumped more than 13,000 tons of what it termed rubble from the Mount and its substructure, including archaeological remains from the First and Second Temple periods.”
“Some 2,500 miners from Europe and countries with mining expertise, such as South Africa, have worked around the clock to move about 27 million tons of rock and rubble from the twin tunnels, working toward each other from opposite ends.”
“Some 2,500 miners, drawn from all over Europe, as well as from countries with mining expertise like South Africa, have worked around the clock to move around 27 million tons of rock and rubble from the twin tunnels.”
The Wall Street Journal: Tunnel Meeting Marks Breakthrough for Transalpine Rail Transit
“Memoriam could be used when the rubble is finally cleared in Haiti and untold numbers of bodies are uncovered.”
The Huffington Post: Craig Newmark: Memoriam: allow relief workers to speak for the dead
“The students stayed with a local pastor and his wife and spent their days clearing rubble from a local church, playing soccer and other games with children who had lost their homes and doing whatever they could to make life easier in the community.”
“The Fairfax County, Va., urban search and rescue team is preparing to travel to Haiti, to help search for victims among the rubble from a strong earthquake that struck the island nation.”
“But for many parents whose children were buried in rubble, their nightmare has never gone away for the entire year.”
Global Voices in English » China: A citizen campaign to reveal the forgotten dead
“If it were up to the Repugs we would be sitting in rubble dumber than dirt.”
“The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the storm toppled part of a building in south St. Louis, with bricks and rubble from the roof and facade toppling onto the street.”
The Huffington Post: Massive Storm Batters Midwest: Strong Winds, Torrential Rain Hit Chicago
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘rubble’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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CCle
all those wonderful Britsy words that end with a double consonant followed by 'le'
doddle, bobble, dibble, whiffle, waffle, diddle, piddle, jiggle, straggle, boggle, fiddle, skeedaddle and 122 more...
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Unwanted matter
gangue, dross, slag, scoria, refuse, trash, cinder, ashes, leavings, recrement, debris, waste and 37 more...
chained_bear In castle architecture, walling made of rough, undressed stones or fill stone. In Bedrock, the short husband of Betty and neighbor of Fred. Aug 26, 2008