Dog near ruins sounded unhappy (7)

I believe the answer is:

groaned

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'sounded unhappy' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'dog near ruins' is the wordplay.
'ruins' indicates an anagram.
'dog'+'near'='dognear'
'dognear' anagrammed gives 'GROANED'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for groaned that I've seen before include "Made despairing sound" , "Sighed in exasperation" , "Indicated pain, discomfort, or displeasure" , "Indicate pain" .)

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