Ruin dreadful couple’s adopted son (9)
I believe the answer is:
disrepair
'ruin' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'dreadful couple's adopted son' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'son' could be 's' (genealogical abbreviation for son) and 's' is located in the answer.
'dreadful' could be 'dire' (synonyms) and 'dire' is present in the remaining letters.
'couple' could be 'pair' (synonyms) and 'pair' is present in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for disrepair that I've seen before include "In need of mending" , "state of neglect" , "rack and ruin" , "Poor working order" , "Ruin, dilapidation" .)