Rubble meaning

rŭb'əl
Rubble is defined as loose and rough pieces of rock that came from a bigger piece, a structure made from such material, or debris from destroyed buildings.

An example of rubble is a group of loose rock pieces falling off a cliff.

An example of rubble is what is left after a building is bombed.

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A loose mass of angular fragments of rock or masonry crumbled by natural or human forces.
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Irregular fragments or pieces of rock used in masonry.
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The masonry made with such rocks.
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Rough, irregular, loose fragments of rock, broken from larger bodies either by natural processes or artificially, as by blasting.
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Masonry made of rubble; rubblework.
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Debris from buildings, etc., resulting from earthquake, bombing, etc.
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The broken remains of an object, usually rock or masonry.
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Origin of rubble

Anglo-Norman *robel (“bits of broken stone"). Presumably related to rubbish, originally of same meaning (bits of stone). Ultimately presumably from Proto-Germanic *raub- (“to break"), perhaps via Old French robe (English rob (“steal")) in sense of “plunder, destroy"; see also Middle English, Middle French -el.

Sentence Examples

  • Common rubble walls are the worst of all.

  • These new structures also consist of rubble mounds.

  • The masonry is described by Mr Schuyler as " a rough uncut granite ashlar, with a hearting of rough rubble all laid in cement mortar and gravel."

  • Its walls of flint rubble survive in stately fragments, and enclose an area of 200 acres.

  • thick, and formed of a core of rough rubble cemented together with mortar (containing much coarse gravel) of extraordinary hardness and tenacity, and a facing for the most part of stone - Kentish rag, freestone or ironstone - but occasionally of flints; about 2 ft.

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Words near rubble in the Dictionary