destruction

[ dih-struhk-shuhn ]

noun

1. the act of destroying:

   wanton destruction of a town.

2. the condition of being destroyed; demolition; annihilation.
3. a cause or means of destroying.

destruction

/ dɪˈstrʌkʃən /

noun

1. the act of destroying or state of being destroyed; demolition
2. a cause of ruin or means of destroying

Other Words From

• nonde·struction noun
• prede·struction noun
• semi·de·struction noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of destruction¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English (from Anglo-French ), from Latin dēstructiōn- (stem of dēstructiō ), equivalent to dēstruct(us) (past participle of dēstruere; destroy ) + -iōn- -ion

Word History and Origins

Origin of destruction¹

C14: from Latin dēstructiō a pulling down; see destroy

Synonym Study

See ruin.

Example Sentences

This is gossipmongering and, as Republicans like to say, part of the politics of personal destruction.

From Ozy

We should NOT be flying a flag of a group who wants to erase our history and bring mass destruction to our country through Communism.

From Washington Blade

Climate-change impacts are already a common thread of destruction and violence from the Sahel and South Sudan to Central America.

From Time

“When the books are written about our careers, one of the main things we’ll be judged on is whether we did enough to stop the destruction of life and property due to climate change,” he said.

From Washington Post

Habitat destruction, loss of food plants, invasive species, climate change, and predation are primarily human-driven problems.

From Nautilus

“The United States had gone to war declaring it must destroy an active weapons of mass destruction program,” the Times reported.

From The Daily Beast

Some of the streets in this part of the town have seen large scale-destruction.

From The Daily Beast

And the Gävle Goat, apparently a sensitive creature, took the destruction hard.

From The Daily Beast

Gävle Goat must be dreading the imminent holiday and his fifty-fifty chance of destruction.

From The Daily Beast

And suddenly you were in the throes of both creation and destruction.

From The Daily Beast

The blind Samson of labor will seize upon the pillars of society and bring them down in a common destruction.

From Project Gutenberg

All things that are of the earth, shall return into the earth: so the ungodly shall from malediction to destruction.

From Project Gutenberg

In the time of destruction they shall pour out their force: and they shall appease the wrath of him that made them.

From Project Gutenberg

To fix on any one stage in such an evolution, detach it, affirm it, is to wrest a true scripture to its destruction.

From Project Gutenberg

It also occurs in diseases with extensive and rapid destruction of red blood-corpuscles.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• annihilation
• carnage
• elimination
• eradication
• extermination
• extinction
• loss
• massacre
• murder
• ruin
• slaughter