Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The act of destroying.
- n. The condition of having been destroyed.
- n. The cause or means of destroying: weapons that could prove to be the destruction of humankind.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The act of destroying; demolition; a pulling down, as of a building; subversion or overthrow, as of a government or a principle; ruin, as of a town, a crop, reputation, virtue, etc.; annihilation or deprivation of existence, as of a man or a forest.
- n. The state of being destroyed; ruin.
- n. Cause of destruction; a consuming plague or ruinous infliction; a destroyer.
- n. Synonyms and Overthrow, desolation, extirpation, eradication, extermination, extinction, devastation.
Wiktionary
- n. The act of destroying.
- n. The results of a destructive event.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The act of destroying; a tearing down; a bringing to naught; subversion; demolition; ruin; slaying; devastation.
- n. The state of being destroyed, demolished, ruined, slain, or devastated.
- n. A destroying agency; a cause of ruin or of devastation; a destroyer.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an event (or the result of an event) that completely destroys something
- n. the termination of something by causing so much damage to it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists
- n. a final state
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Old French destrucion, from Latin destructio. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French, from Latin dēstrūctiō, dēstrūctiōn-, from dēstrūctus, past participle of dēstruere, to destroy; see destroy. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Pache, whose home was razed 10 times, jokes that the destruction is the only government service he can count on.”
The Huffington Post: India: Toilets Are Scarce, And Highly Desirable
“This destruction is the reason silver is becoming scarce.”
“Little hope seems to be offered that this destruction is anything other than complete, an effect implied in part by a shift in the tone of the free indirect discourse which has established the narrative viewpoint of Nineteen Eighty-Four.”
“They say embryonic stem cell research has not proven anything yet, and taxpayers should not be forced to fund what they call the destruction of human embryos.”
““Is that what you call the destruction of the entire Earth?””
“If nuclear energy to date has found its application in destruction, that is something for which the scientist can not ask to be wholly excused from an adverse judgment; but he has a right to say that he has made available to us, to the citizens, to the politicians, a knowledge of the powers of nature which can be applied maleficently, beneficently, through temporarily destructive methods, or beneficently through wholly, constructive methods, at choice.”
“Marquesans are perishing, and, to judge from conditions at Taiohae, the one thing that retards their destruction is the infusion of fresh blood.”
“Note, Those that threaten ruin to the church of God hasten ruin to themselves; and their destruction is the church's salvation: Thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian.”
“He speaks of it as a thing done -- They are cast down; for their destruction is as certain as if it were already accomplished.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
“Those only are slain whom God delivers to the slaughter, for the keys of death are in his hand; and, in delivering them to the slaughter, he has utterly destroyed them; their destruction is as sure, when God has doomed them to it, as if they were destroyed already, utterly destroyed.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘destruction’.
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-tion
vacation, suggestion, donation, condition, education, examination, federation, generation, imagination, invention, operation, pollution and 166 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
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FUN - World of Warcraft terminology
cloth wearing player, new player, paladin specifica..., achievement, additional monster, sex, location, agility equivalen..., old kingdom, alchemist, alliance, alterac valley and 424 more...
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AGRI - CAP
basic prices, buying-in price, agricultural levies, agricultural prices, intervention / tr..., intervention stocks, intervention system, interprofessional..., area aid/payment, area-based subsidy, Community financing, direct assistance and 217 more...
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Kangaroo Words
Words containing letters in sequence, together or apart, that form a definition or instance of the subsuming word. E.g., conTAmINaTe = the kangaroo word. TAINT = the joey. Theme from a NYT X-word ...
encourage, chariot, precipitation, neurotic, feaster, unsightly, charisma, inheritor, masculine, honorable, contaminate, regulate and 103 more...
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AGRI - crops/fruits/vegetables
Crops, fruits and vegetables + plant growing terms
agricultural crop, agricultural product, cranberry, mulberry, oil seed crops, protein crops, rain-fed agriculture, set-aside, soft fruit, drainage, cereals, cold storage house and 96 more...
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ECON - general customs terms
ad-valorem duty, agricultural duties, anti-dumping duties, approved exporter, association agree..., ATA carnet, authorised consignee, authorised consignor, binding origin in..., binding tariff in..., combined nomencla..., commercial policy... and 65 more...
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RPG
rogue, alchemy, lady's favor, trollkin, herald's call, critical hit, insect plague, alteration, conjuration, destruction, mysticism, illusion and 65 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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fifi
verbs Adj Adv noun
indulge, convene, solve, dissolve, prospect, prospective, allege, resolve, accountable, administration, amid, agenda and 407 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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kenzie's Words
epiphany, rhapsody, melody, cacophany, zenith, meticulous, sly, portent, synchronicity, juggernaut, evensong, script and 99 more...
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Gotim
Aries, fire, chaos, destruction, Mars, aggression, bold, competetive, conflict, raw, black, red and 165 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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Poetrie: "For I Will Consider My Cat ...
An excerpt from Jubilate Agno, written by Christopher Smart between 1759 and 1763 during his confinement for "lunacy" at St. Luke's Hospital in Bethnal Green, London.
For I will...consider, cat, jeoffry, servant, living god, duly, worship, wreathing, elegant quickness, leaps up, musk, blessing and 145 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for destruction.
oroboros destRUctIoN Apr 22, 2008