destruction

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Act of destroying

Nouns

1. destruction, waste, dissolution, break[ing] up; disruption; consumption; disorganization. See loss.

2. (fact of destruction) fall, downfall, ruin, perdition, crash, smash, havoc, debacle, breakup; desolation, bouleversement, wreck, shipwreck, catastrophe, cataclysm; extinction, annihilation; destruction of life (see killing); obliteration; knock-down blow; [crack of] doom.

3. (act of destruction) destroying, demolition, demolishment; overthrow, subversion, revolution, sabotage; vandalism; abolition; nullification; sacrifice, ravage, devastation, incendiarism, extirpation, extermination, eradication; mayhem; road to ruin; dilapidation (see deterioration).

4. (agent of destruction) destroyer, exterminator; nihilist; bane, blight, moth, locust; executioner.

Verbs

1. (nullify) destroy, do or make away with, exterminate, kill off; nullify, annul (see nullification); obliterate, eradicate, stamp or wipe out; sacrifice, demolish, dismantle (see usefulness); tear up or down; overturn, overthrow, overwhelm; disrupt, upset, subvert, put an end to, seal the doom of; break up, cut up; break, cut, pull, mow, or beat down; cut short, take off, blot out; dispel, consume, burn out or up; disorganize, play or raise havoc with. Slang, total.

2. be destroyed, perish, fall [to the ground]; tumble, topple (see descent); go or fall to pieces, break up, crack up, crumble to dust; go to smash, pot, or wreck, go to the dogs or wall, go to wrack and ruin; go by the board, go all to smash; be all up or over with; cook one's goose; totter to its fall; [self-]destruct.

3. (break up) smash, dash, quell, squash, squelch, crumple up, shatter, shiver (see brittleness); tear, cut, crush, pull, or pick to pieces; nip [in the bud]; ruin; strike out; throw or knock down, lay low; fell, sink, swamp, scuttle, wreck, shipwreck, engulf, submerge; lay in ashes or ruins; sweep away, eradicate, erase, expunge; raze, level. Slang, trash.

4. (destroy violently) deal destruction, lay waste, ravage; gut; swallow up, devour, desolate, devastate, sap, mine, blast, bang up; sabotage; extinguish, quench; annihilate; snuff, put, or stamp out; trample under foot; make short work of, make a clean sweep of, make mincemeat of; cut up root and branch; fling or scatter to the winds, throw overboard; strike at the root of, sap the foundations of, spring a mine, blow up.

Adjectives

1. destroyed; disrupted; perishing, trembling; nodding or tottering to its fall; in course of destruction; done for; extinct. Informal, kaput. Slang, down the tubes or chute, fucked.

2. destructive, subversive, ruinous, incendiary, deletory; destroying, suicidal; deadly (see killing).

Phrases — the road to ruin is always kept in good repair.

Quotations — All men that are ruined are ruined on the side of their natural propensities (Edmund Burke), Let everyone witness how many different cards fortune has up her sleeve when she wants to ruin a man (Benvenuto Cellini).

Antonyms, see production.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [The act of destroying]

Syn. demolition, demolishing, ruin, ruining, wrecking, tearing down, razing, leveling, annihilation, devastation, holocaust, eradication, obliteration, slaying, slaughter, carnage, liquidation, extirpation, overthrow, subversion, extermination, elimination, ravaging, consumption, abolition, murder, assassination, killing, disruption, bombardment, burning, dynamiting, laying waste, tearing apart, disintegration, extinction, ravagement, wreckage, subjugation, despoiling, depredation, dissolution, butchery, sabotage, subverting, ravaging, pillaging, plundering, despoliation, sacking, vandalism, subjugation, crushing, dissolving, invalidating, extinguishing, overthrowing, collision, crashing, falling, felling, dismantling, gutting, defacing, shattering, smashing, trampling, knocking down, stamping out, wiping out, sack, rack and ruin, crack of doom*; see also carnage , wreck 1 .

Ant. production*, formation, erection.

2. [The condition after destruction]

Syn. ruin, waste, ashes, wreck, annihilation, devastation, havoc, vestiges, desolation, ruins, overthrow, decay, dilapidation, disintegration, loss, bane, blight, remains, remnants, prostration, injury, impairment, ravage, downfall, end, bankruptcy, starvation, plague, shipwreck, dissolution, removal, sacrifice, disorganization, immolation; see also damage 2 .

Ant. restoration*, renovation, renewal.

Syn.- destruction implies annihilation or demolition, as by fire, explosion, flood, etc. [ the destruction of the village in an air raid ] ; ruin implies a state of decay, disintegration, etc. especially through such natural processes as age and weather [ the barn is in a state of ruin] ; havoc suggests total destruction or devastation, as following an earthquake or hurricane [ the storm wreaked havoc along the coast ] ; dilapidation implies a state of ruin or shabbiness resulting from neglect [ the dilapidation of a deserted house ]

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

wreckage, demolition, annihilation, ruins, devastation, ravaging, liquidation, havoc, extinction, eradication, slaughter, decimation.

ANT.: building, creation, preservation

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. The act of destroying or state of being destroyed: bane, devastation, havoc, ruin, ruination, undoing, wrack1, wreck, wreckage. See HELP, LEFTOVER. 2. An act, instance, or consequence of breaking: breakage, damage, impairment, wreckage. See HELP. 3. Something that causes total loss or severe impairment, as of one's health, fortune, honor, or hopes: bane, destroyer, downfall, ruin, ruination, undoing, wrecker. See HELP.