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Definition of rubble noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

rubble

noun
 
/ˈrʌbl/
 
/ˈrʌbl/
[uncountable]
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  1. broken stones, etc. from a building or wall that has been destroyed or damaged
    • The bomb reduced the houses to rubble.
    • There were piles of rubble everywhere.
    Extra Examples
    • Police sifted through the rubble looking for clues.
    • Rescue workers are searching the rubble for survivors.
    • Several people were trapped in the rubble.
    • She stood among the rubble left by the earthquake.
    • What was once a cottage was now a crumbling heap of rubble.
    Topics Buildingsc2
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • building
    … of rubble
    • heap
    • pile
    verb + rubble
    • be reduced to
    • clear
    • clear away
    preposition
    • amid the rubble
    • among the rubble
    • beneath the rubble
    See full entry
    Word Originlate Middle English: perhaps from an Anglo-Norman French alteration of Old French robe ‘spoils’; compare with rubbish.
See rubble in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
previously
adverb
 
 
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