rack and ruin
1
7.4
- idiom
:
ruina total
- He was dreading his arrival, figuring his place must have gone to rack and ruin while he was gone and that his wife and children were probably in the poorhouse a long time ago.
- go to rack and ruin
- fall into rack and ruin
Examples
-
Ellie knew it too, and Patty would learn it: how the body will go to rack and ruin; and so would Kevin, though for a while, in his late teens and twenties, he would forget.
Fiction book (1999) -
This place is falling to rack and ruin.
-
Either your estate has been raped by your manager and fallen into rack and ruin, or it has prospered in your absence, which would mean you are not needed there at all.
Fiction book (1991) -
The war "left the Mother of States desolate, her people in despair, and rack and ruin stalking everywhere" (p. 403).
Academic text (2003) -
The Administration of Detroit is to blame for the vast ruin of the fine city; they lived high on the hog and thumbed their noses at the rack and ruin.
Blog text (27) -
After years of neglect, the old factory fell into rack and ruin, becoming a dangerous eyesore.
-
The once beautiful mansion now stands in rack and ruin, with crumbling walls and overgrown gardens.
-
Without proper maintenance, the community center is at risk of falling into rack and ruin and losing its charm.
Synonyms
23
3.8
A place or thing that is very badly damaged, often used for buildings and companies
11
7.7
An area left empty and ruined after a disaster
6
7.6
A complete destruction or great loss that makes something worthless
2
5.3
Badly damaged or destroyed, like a building after a disaster
A state when something is very broken and falling apart
Severe damage that makes something unusable
Antonyms
How Damaged
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun 'ruin' clearly signals destruction, so part of the phrase's meaning is recoverable; however, 'rack' does not transparently contribute a clear, literal sense of collapse for most learners (its common senses are 'shelf' or a torture device, and the collocational sense is archaic). Because the expression is a fixed binomial meaning total decay and relies on a less transparent use of 'rack', a B1 learner who only knows the common meanings of the constituents would likely only partially infer the full sense.
Etymology
Rack and ruin may come from an old word 'wrack' that meant a wreck or great damage, and with ruin it gives the image of something broken and left to fall apart. That's why rack and ruin means 'complete decay or destruction'.