destruction
Americannoun
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the act of destroying.
wanton destruction of a town.
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the condition of being destroyed; demolition; annihilation.
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a cause or means of destroying.
noun
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the act of destroying or state of being destroyed; demolition
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a cause of ruin or means of destroying
Related Words
See ruin.
Other Word Forms
- nondestruction noun
- predestruction noun
- semidestruction noun
Etymology
Origin of destruction
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
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Wolfsthal is among experts involved in the "Doomsday Clock" meant to symbolize how near humanity is to destruction.
From Barron's
Though his acidic sense of humour -- criticised as condescending by some -- is evident throughout, Parr's 180 photographs also amount to a portrait of human folly and environmental destruction.
From Barron's
"It should not have cost the taxpayer tens of billions of pounds to build a railway that no-one wants and brings so much destruction," Smith says.
From BBC
In it, he condemned the destruction of the war, "devastation of people's lives", and "the ruin of children's futures."
From Barron's
Merz at the same time stressed that "the systematic and brutal destruction of Ukraine's civilian infrastructure by Russian attacks" was "still ongoing", which he condemned "in the strongest terms", his spokesman, Stefan Kornelius, said.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
