Definition

1. Adjective:
   • In a state of ruin, collapsed, or fallen apart: Describes something (typically a building, structure, or area) that has been severely damaged, destroyed, or has crumbled, often due to age, disaster, or war.
   • Dilapidated, in ruins: Indicates a condition of complete or near-complete destruction and decay.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Sau trận động đất, thành phố bị đổ nát hoàn toàn. (After the earthquake, the city was completely in ruins.)
  • Ngôi đền cổ giờ chỉ còn là một đống đổ nát. (The ancient temple is now just a pile of rubble.)
  • Khu nhà máy bỏ hoang trông rất đổ nát. (The abandoned factory looks very dilapidated.)

Advanced Usage

• "cảnh đổ nát": a scene of ruin/devastation.
  • Phóng viên ghi lại cảnh đổ nát sau vụ đánh bom. (The reporter recorded the scene of devastation after the bombing.)
• "tan hoang đổ nát": utterly ruined and devastated (emphasizes complete destruction).
  • Chiến tranh đã để lại những ngôi làng tan hoang đổ nát. (The war left villages utterly ruined and devastated.)

Variants and Related Words

• Sụp đổ (verb): to collapse, to fall down. Focuses more on the action of collapsing.
  • Tòa nhà đã sụp đổ. (The building collapsed.)
• Hoang tàn (adjective): desolate, ruined. Often describes a ruined and deserted state.
  • Pháo đài hoang tàn. (A desolate fortress.)
• Đổ vỡ (verb/adjective): to break/shatter; broken. More general, can apply to objects, plans, or relationships.
  • Chiếc ly bị đổ vỡ. (The glass was broken.)

Synonyms

• Tan hoang: devastated, laid waste.
• Tiêu điều: desolate, bleak (often for landscapes or economies).
• Nát vụn: smashed to pieces, crumbled.

Related Phrases

• Phế tích: ruins, relics (often historical or archaeological).
  • phế tích của một nền văn minh cổ (the ruins of an ancient civilization)
• Bình địa: razed to the ground.
  • bom đạn biến khu phố thành bình địa (bombs turned the neighborhood into razed ground)

1. Fall to pieces, be in ruin, collapse