destruction
/dɪˈstrʌkʃ(ə)n
/noun [mass noun]
1The action or process of causing so much damage to something that it no longer exists or cannot be repaired: the destruction of the rainforest the avalanche left a trail of destruction...
- What cosmic, mystical reason could there be for such evil and ugliness and destruction to exist?
- Aerial TV footage showed a tornado-carved path of destruction, with serious damage to dozens more homes.
- The destruction of 4 of these would have caused a lot more long term damage and destruction to their country.
Synonyms
demolition, knocking down, pulling down, tearing down, levelling, razing (to the ground), felling, dismantling, breaking up, wrecking, ruination, smashing, shattering, blasting, blowing up, dynamiting, bombing, torpedoing
spoliation, devastation, spoiling, ruination, wrecking, blighting, marring, disfigurement, impairment, defacing, scarring, injury, harm, laying waste, desolation, ravaging
literary wasting
1.1The action or process of killing or being killed: the wanton destruction of human life...
- Now we know these acts of mass murder and destruction as genocide.
- So they naturally carried big weapons designed for mass destruction.
- Weapons of mass destruction aren't the issue, it's about global control.
Synonyms
annihilation, wiping out, obliteration, elimination, eradication, liquidation, extinction, finishing off, rooting out, extirpation;
killing, slaughter, slaughtering, massacre, massacring, butchery, butchering, extermination, decimation
informal taking out, rubbing out, snuffing out, zapping
North American informal wasting
1.2 [in singular] A cause of someone’s ruin: gambling was his destruction...
- It was his destruction that he popularized his own philosophy.
- They made her a goddess: that was her destruction.
- Late nights and too much partying was my destruction.
2 [count noun] rare A group of wild cats.He'd even considered moving next door, but a destruction of wild cats had gained entrance.
Origin
Middle English: from Latin destructio(n-), from the verb destruere (see destroy).
Rhymes
- knowledge-full
- knowledge gap
- knowledge industry
- knowledgeless
- knowledge management
- knowledgement
- knowledge representation
- knowledge society
- knowledge tree
- knowledge work
- knowledge worker
- knowledgment
- know-little
- known
- known man
- know no bounds
- know-nothing
- know-nothingism
- know-nothingness
- know-not-what
- known quantity
- know one's onions
- know one's own mind
- know one's way around (or about)
- knowpert