Penury (9)
There are a few possibilities for this:
pauperism
<span class="explanation-format__ClueExplanation">'<span class="explanation-format__original">penury</span>' is the definition.<br/ ><span class="explanation-format__explanation">(I know that penury can be written as pauperism)</span><br/ ><br/ >This is all the clue.<br/ ></span>
(Other definitions for ruin that I've seen before include "dishonour" , "Disaster, collapse" , "State of devastation and destruction" , "financial hardship" , "fall" .)
<span class="explanation-format__ClueExplanation">'<span class="explanation-format__original">penury</span>' is the definition.<br/ ><span class="explanation-format__explanation">(I know that penury can be written as need)</span><br/ ><br/ >This is the entire clue.<br/ ></span>
(Other definitions for need that I've seen before include "Penury" , "state requiring relief" , "Desideratum" , "'miss'" , "What's lacking" .)